You’ve got to be kidding me…
I couldn’t imagine reeling in a massive fish in a fishing tournament with serious money on the line, and knowing you have a shot to win it all…
Just to be disqualified due on a technicality.
That’s exactly what happened to a group of fishermen who were competing in the 65th Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament this past weekend in Morehead City, North Carolina.
According to FOX News, the anglers of the boat named Sensation reeled in a 619-pound blue marlin, believing they had a serious shot to win.
However, after tournament organizers observed the picture of the catch on their Facebook page, they warned the crew that the fish may be in violation of the rules.
And yesterday, the fish was deemed ineligible.
The statement sent out read:
“The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament follows IGFA rules regarding mutilated fish as outlined in Rule #23 in the Big Rock Official Rules.
IGFA rules state that the following situation will disqualify a fish: ‘Mutilation to the fish, prior to landing or boating the catch, caused by sharks, other fish, mammals or propellers that remove or penetrate the flesh.’
The decision is consistent with prior decisions made by the tournament in similar circumstances over the last 65 years.”
The thought behind the rule is that an injured fish wouldn’t be able to put up a fair fight against the fishermen, even if the damage was months and months ago. I’d say a six hour fight meant the fish was in pretty damn good shape, but hey, I don’t make the rules.
The tournament then named Sushi the winner of the tournament for its 484.5-pound catch… a lot smaller than the 619 DQ’d fish.
Sushi took home a whopping $2.77 million for the tournament win.
This has to be the most sickening feeling in the world, to lose a fishing tournament and all of the money that comes with it because a of technicality that’s completely out of your control.
Not to mention they would’ve scored an additional $739,500 for being the first team to reel in a blue marlin over 500 pounds, bringing the grand total to over $3.5 million that was lost… all because a shark may have taken a bite outta this fella.
Tough, tough scene.
Fisherman’s Marlin Is Mauled By Whales Before It Even Reaches The Boat
Talk about a once in a lifetime moment.
According to For The Win, a sportfishing guide in Fiji captured the moment false killer whales attacked a 300-pound marlin who was on the fisherman’s line. By the time it got to the boat, there wasn’t much left of it.
False killer whales are actually in the dolphin family, much like their relatives the orca, where they get their name from. Primarily eating a diet of squid and large fish, the can mostly be found in tropical waters, although their range extends to oceans worldwide.
They are also highly social animals, traveling in packs called “pods” that can be as large as 50 whales.
The guide and owner of Freedive Fiji Charters, Jaga Crossingham, posted the wild scene to Instagram, with a caption reading:
“Can hardly believe what we witnessed today! A fired up pack of whales took down this 140kg+ Marlin.”
Sure enough, you can see the whales off in the distance, as it lets go of the marlin carcass. Once they got the marlin on the boat, there was only the head leftover from the attack.
And in the next clip, you can see the whales approach the boat, assuming they still wanted some more of what was left of the marlin.
Crossingham told the outlet that the marlin was hooked for about 15 minutes:
“I realized the whales were starting to behave more like a pack of sharks. The whole attack was only a couple of minutes.”
Just couldn’t resist this massive marlin, eh?
Tough break for the fisherman who looks like they had a beauty on the line… but hey, that’s life.
Check it out:
Freediving Fisherman Spears World Record Blue Marlin
That’s as radical as it comes in fishing.
Spearfishing is one thing but tackling a fish like a blue marlin is on a whole other level. I mean, we’re talking about a fish that can be 14-feet long and up to 1,500-pounds with a giant sword attached to its face.
This guy went down and wasn’t even planning to spear a marlin when he went underwater. The opportunity started to present itself so he got ready to be the coolest fisherman ever.
A lot of the time marlin gets released, this guy explained that normally that’s how he would operate but this is an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.
As a school of fish swarmed him when the marlin came into view he waited for a chance. The marlin comes in close and perfectly broadside checking out who the weird thing in amongst his food is. The man takes the shot and nails it perfectly.
The fisherman comes back up and tells the crew what happened in excitement.
Eventually, the float from the spear pops up and they pull the massive fish up to the boat. It ends up being 480.9-pounds and over 11-feet long. At the time, it was a world record spearfished marlin.
And the meat went to the locals:
“The entire fish was cleaned at the dock by the local Panamanians and distributed between the families.
The entire fish was gone in minutes and all eaten within two days. I was very happy to see it make so many people happy!
Gotta love it.
