Trey Irvine of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., caught one of the biggest Atlantic blue marlin ever recorded Friday to earn his team a final-day victory in the 25th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament.
Irvine’s fish weighed 1,228.5 pounds and is a pending North Carolina record for the species. The current record is a 1,142-pounder caught by Jack Herrington in 1974. The world record weighed 1,402.2 pounds and was caught in 1992 off the coast of Brazil.
According to tournament director Kevin Crum, the fish will net Irvine’s team “at least $500,000. The team was registered in all categories, so they stand to make a lot of money.”
Any blue marlin brought to the docks that weighs more than 600 pounds earns one point per pound.
“The most points any team had going into (Friday) was 280 for released fish,” Crum said. “This is causing quite a stir down here.”
Irvine’s team hadn’t caught a fish the entire week of the offshore tournament that featured 99 teams.
“So we decided to go for the Hail Mary,” said teammate Paul Spencer of the Outer Banks. Spencer built Irvine’s boat, “Mimi.”
“We went to an area that I know about that really hasn’t been holding too many fish,” Spencer said. “But it has the chance for a big fish.”
Spencer said the crew put out all of its biggest baits on its largest tackle in hopes that something big would bite.
It did.
“It was slick calm and we saw it come up and take the bait. We knew it was big,” said Spencer, who added that Irvine had left the tournament site for another obligation. “The first few times the fish got air and we saw it, we figured that it might be around 800 pounds. The next few times, we all thought that maybe it would be 1,000.
“When we finally got the fish in the boat after two hours, we all guessed that it might go 1,100. But we’re absolutely amazed at what we did.”
Spencer said that catching such a big blue marlin in his home waters was extremely rewarding for the team.
“I went down to Australia and saw one caught that went 1,120,” Spencer said. “So coming home and catching one this big in your own back yard is really something special. I think this is something that’s going to be talked about around here for a long, long time.”
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Congratulations on the catch of a lifetime
Released or not, it is the catch of a lifetime. The debate here has pointed out a few key issues. First, circle hooks are effective but larger ones are needed. Next, catch and release is a philosophy acquired over time. I think gas prices will ensure the species flourishes in the future as fewer and fewer fisherman, commercial and recreational, are able to get to them.
wow
You people whine about one fish that most of you would probably give your first born to be the one to catch it for the bragging rights alone. I'm betting not one of you care the Japanese and Chinese strip mine the seas for everything including coral to sell to idiot VA Beach tourists. Or the fact that a crabbers/lobstermens lost pot can go on killing efficiently for years if lost. I could go on, but it's pointless. We fishermen arent the worst out there by far.
Big Bill Fish
Why fish for something you can't even eat? Everyone knows you can't eat these large billfish because of the high metal counts. It's like killing deer and bear and other wild animals and not eating them. It is a very UN-CHIRSTIAN thing to do.
Circle hooks!!!
First of all I am a former charter boat and now a private boat Capt. I know the boat builder and both mates on the boat pretty well, if fact one of the mates worked for me yrs ago. I use circle hooks and love them. THEY DON'T MAKE THEM BIG ENOUGH!! A circle hook does NOT have a big enough "bite" in them for a large marlin with a trolled bait! That "bite" needs to be increased by double. That's why a J hook was used. For you cry babies out there crying about killing this fish. Let all of us on the other side see them waive 900K in front of your nose and see you say no to that! HAHA Pirates Cove is a MOSTLY release tounrament. The controversy came yrs ago when another grander was caught and did NOT win 1st place because another boat had released a few white marlin. NO ONE thought that was fair except the guy with the releases. MOST tournaments require a min. size limit for blue marlin as does Pirates Cove. So get your fact
throw it back
throw it back!!!!!
No robc60992, RC is a lifelong fisherman and biologist
I have been an avid fisherman since I was three years old. After 42 more years, I have fished all over the world and caught thousands. However, part of my growth in the sport has been an evolving philosophy of catch and release. I am keenly aware of how rare such large specimens have become. Yes, I do keep one now and again to enjoy at the table. But never these grand beauties. In fact I don't fish for them anymore, because I can't bear seeing a hook in their mouths. Only my personal opinion and philosophy, nothing more.
What a shame
First off, I am a fisherman. But what I don't eat I release. Too bad the tournament organizers don't wake up and support conservation and prohibit keeping these magnificant fish. Catch and release with circle hooks reduces mortality and lets these wonderful creatures continue on living. So now someone has this mounted (maybe) and hanging on a wall somewhere?
RC must be a peta member
The fish will probably be mounted. That is a fish of a lifetime. Often after long battle with a fish that size they overheat and expire. Also the fish can be eaten.........mmmmmm mmmmmm tasty!
So proud
Now this once beautiful, magnificent and majestic animal is stinking up a landfill somewhere. Think how happy he was just a few days ago....
Have craving for...
SUSHI!!!!!!!!
Vanity
For a couple hundred thousand dollars the way things are in these times, yea I would have brought the fish back to the dock I'm sure most normal people would.