A 503-pound blue marlin reeled in by the J&B crew was the largest fish caught during the 42nd annual Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament, but the crew of The Piracy hooked two smaller marlin in the final hours of the three-day event to snatch first-place honors.
Points were awarded for each fish caught, so while the crew of the J&B earned 503 points for the massive fish it boated Friday, May 29, The Piracy crew earned 400 points apiece for the two fish it caught and released Saturday. The crew of 18 Reeler caught and released a marlin and a sailfish to clinch third place.
Crews were allowed to fish two of the three days of the event, so picking the optimal days and location was critical to the captains’ strategy. The J&B crew caught its giant marlin around 11:30 a.m. 78 miles offshore.
Angler Chris Craft, who hooked the marlin, said it took him two hours to reel it in close enough to measure and determine if it met the length requirement for bringing it aboard the vessel.
“We reeled him in seven different times,” he said.”We’d get him beside the boat so we could measure him and then he’d get a look at us and he’d take off. … So we’d have to reel him back in,” he said.
Craft said while he actually held the fishing pole, it took a combined effort from the entire crew to capture the powerful fish. Craft sat in the fighting chair near the stern of the yacht while crewmembers brought him refreshments and steered the chair. Meanwhile, Captain Alan Murray kept the boat from running over the fish.
“We’ve been fishing so much in the past two years,” Craft said. “We’re getting a little bit better because we’re doing repetition with the same crew.”
This was the second year in a row the J&B crew held onto the tournament lead until the final hours. Last year, it caught a 447-pound fish early in the event, which was good for first place until another crew boated an 821-pound behemoth.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on the top honors again, the J&B crew’s respectable point total will follow it throughout the rest of the North Carolina Governor’s Cup Saltwater Fishing Series. And while the body of the 503-pound marlin was taken for research, Craft took home the 2-foot-long bill and enormous tailfins, along with the memory of his momentous catch.
“That’s the biggest one I’ve personally reeled in,” he said.
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