Offshore fishing teams are used to battling huge waves, but big waves are no comparison to the emotional roller coaster experienced by two Charleston crews in the White Marlin Open fished Aug. 3-8 in Ocean City, Md.
Anxiety! Stress! Pride! Mister Pete and Bull Pen were in line to earn paydays soaring into the millions, but at the same time they were thinking of that famous line by Yogi Berra: "It ain't over till it's over."
But when it was over, Mister Pete had earned the top prize in one of the largest (334 boats) and most prestigious billfish tournaments. And Bull Pen finished third but earned the second-highest payout in the tournament. Mister Pete, a 60-foot Spencer owned by brothers Bob and Rusty McClam and captained by Alan Neiford, won $3,503,891.54 for catching an 80-pound white marlin on Aug. 6.
The day before, Bull Pen, a 62-foot Bayliss owned by Todd Wigfield and captained by Cordes Lucas, had brought in the first eligible white marlin, a 70-pound catch that could have been worth more than $5 million if Mister Pete hadn't landed its fish. Bull Pen won $1,818,546.84, more than five times the amount of the second-place fish. Reel Hunter out of St. Michael's, Md., caught a 71.5-pound white marlin on Aug. 7 but didn't enter as many divisions as Bull Pen and finished with a $360,721.49 payday.
To be eligible for prizes, a white marlin must measure 70 inches from the tip of its lower jaw to the fork of the tail, and it must weigh at least 70 pounds. And those were the exact measurements of Bull Pen's fish caught by James Hood.
"It's been surreal," Lucas said of the experience. Lucas said the crew measured the fish at 72 inches, and he came down off the bridge and measured it twice himself just to be sure.
The Charleston boat Bull Pen finished third in the White Marlin Open but earned $1.8 million with their 70-pound white marlin."Then, to keep it from losing any weight, we put it into a fish bag and filled it with ice to keep it cold until we could weigh it," he said. "We were all optimistic, but I've done this tournament for 15 years, and I've been to the scales two other times, once with a qualifying fish and one that didn't qualify. If you don't have the girth (measurement around the fish), it's not uncommon for them to be underweight. We were very nervous on that front.
"Your stomach is in knots all day. You tell yourself don't think about it, just let it be what it's going to be. It was totally our of our control. We went out and did our best, and after that let fate take over," Lucas said.
From that point it was a waiting game, and they waited less than 24 hours before getting bumped, a potential $5 million fish if no other qualifying catches were brought to the scales.
The Mister Pete crew had not been happy with what transpired on the first two of three fish days, so Capt. Alan Neiford decided to shake things up and do something completely different.
"I went way offshore and got all by myself, and that's where we found the fish," Neiford said. He said the crew saw two blue marlin in their spread, but those fish didn't eat, but then around 8:45 a.m. a fish hit a flat line and a battle was on. But they didn't know if they were fighting a blue marlin, a white marlin or a tuna, all money fish.
"It was a fast, hard bite, and he didn't jump at all," Neiford said.
With Bill Sharpe of Mount Pleasant on the rod, the fish stayed deep, almost vertical, and took a lot of line. About 10 minutes into the fight it jumped about five feet behind the boat.
"We got a good look at it, and everybody was 'Wow! We've got something here.' It took us another 20 minutes to get it up to the boat again," Neiford said. Knowing it was a potential money fish, the crew was extra careful. Finally, almost an hour after the fish hit, they were able to gaff it and bring it aboard the boat.
Neiford said it's difficult to use a standard tape measure, but they had cut some heavy monofilament line to (the minimum size) 70 inches and had another piece they could wrap around the fish to get the girth. He said they were estimating 73.5 inches length, and the fish had a 28-inch girth.
"With those measurements the fish should weigh 80 pounds, and that's exactly what it weighed," Neiford said.
They immediately put the white marlin in a fish bag filled with ice. He said they wanted to get to the scales as quickly as possible but then realized it wasn't even 10 a.m. and the scales wouldn't open for another six hours. So they continued to fish until 1 p.m., then headed in with what proved to be a lucrative catch.
There were still two days of fishing remaining, so it became a waiting game for both Mister Pete and Bull Pen.
"It was pretty overwhelming and anxiety-filled, that's for sure. It was extremely stressful," Neiford said.
He said there were rumors about another fish coming in, but nothing was confirmed until Saturday's weigh-in ended.
"It was unreal. We were ecstatic, as excited as you can possibly be," Neiford said. "It was an emotional roller coaster. You're happy, you're excited, and you're about to cry. What a great achievement. Those are the best fishermen in the world. It was like the Super Bowl or Masters of fishing."
Lucas echoed Neiford's thoughts.
"You start hearing all those rumors and you really don't know," Lucas said. "You don't want to celebrate too early. It was just a roller coaster of emotions. For us to end up in the money, it makes it all worthwhile, all the hard work and being away from home, the time in the boatyard, all the behind the scenes stuff that goes in it. It really makes it all worth it. I'm still trying to process it."
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