Steve GannLack Of Fishing License Costs Angler 900K
June 24th 2010 04:39
The tournament noted that the rule violation did not involve dishonesty or cheating.
"We've actually dealt with a similar situation," said Amy Dukes, tournament coordinator for the South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series. "A vessel didn't have the highly migratory species (HMS) permit and released two blue marlin at Edisto last year. We had to disqualify it from the Governor's Cup, and the boat did the honorable thing and disqualified itself from the tournament. It wasn't nearly the amount of money, but it would have been just shy of $60,000."
The Big Rock is one of the most prestigious and popular blue marlin tournaments in the country and features huge payouts, many of them earned by Charleston boats. Bak Bar, owned by Billy Barnwell and Neal Baker, won the 2007 tournament and $800,839 with a 613-pound blue marlin. Artemis, owned by John Darby, won the 2008 Big Rock with a 640-pound catch worth $708,400. J.F. Pederson's
Pipelayer won in 2003 with a 677-pound blue marlin worth $420,887.
The Big Rock tournament record is an 831-pound blue marlin caught by Summertime Blues out of Kiawah Island in 2000 that was worth $463,000.
Carnivore, which had been the second place boat with a 528-pound catch, moved into first place and won $999,453. Wet-N-Wild finished third with a 460-pound blue marlin and won $275,322.
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