Big Rock battle out of the water and into court

The Board of Directors of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament on Wednesday asked the Carteret County Superior Court to give it a Declaratory Judgement acknowledging the tournament's decision to disqualify the team on Citation for a rules violation.

The Citation caught a tournament-record 883-pound blue marlin that was worth $1.2 million at the Morehead City event's end, but a required post-tournament polygraph found a mate on the boat didn't have a fishing license. The board withheld awards and deliberated for two days before disqualifying the team and awarding first place to the team on Carnivore.

The tournament board filed its paperwork after owners of Citation filed suit in Dare County seeking to stop the tournament from awarding any of the event's estimated $1.6 million total prize money, and to declare the Citation the winner.

In a statement e-mailed Thursday, the board of directors of Big Rock said it "stands by its decision to disqualify the marlin caught by 'Citation' as the result of a violation of Tournament rules."