PELAGIC HUNTER II: OUTBOARD ON TOP

The FIVE hour fight was worth the WEIGHT for this crew of four! PELAGIC HUNTER II, of Sneads Ferry, took the lead late this afternoon with a 495.2-pound blue marlin. The current 1st Place catch was reeled in on a 35′ Contender Outboard by angler, Riley Adkins! Just one pound separates PELAGIC HUNTER II from 2nd place catch from PREDATOR!

Jarrett Bay Hull #11, BILL COLLECTOR, weighed a 453.7-pound blue marlin after boating the second blue of the day. Captain Draughon’s catch wasn’t enough to take 3rd place, but it was enough to shake up the leaderboard for 4th place. GAME CHANGER & APRIL MAE’s blue marlin did not meet tournament minimum requirements.

Overall releases were up from yesterday- 17 blue marlins, 3 sailfish, and 5 white marlin were released (unofficially). PIRACY cashed in $5,000 after an early sailfish release for Gregory Poole’s 1st Release of the Day! Friday’s daily release earnings worth $47, 813 went to ELECTRIC BILL for their two blue marlin releases.

Day 5 1st place dolphin goes to SEA I SEA with a 34.2 pound catch by Brandon Mills for $2,000. FIN PLANNER was a close 2nd, coming in at 32.9-pounds worth $1,000. Only one wahoo was weighed; therefore, both 1st & 2nd place payouts go to CHUNDA for a 21.3 pounder. 

Of the total 205 entered boats, 153 are still eligible to fish tomorrow- 52 will be fished out! The FABULOUS FISHERMAN’S Prize Money is still anyone’s game on the final day of the 62nd Annual Big Rock Tournament! TUNE IN to see who will WIN the $552,500! We start one hour earlier tomorrow- lines in at 8AM!

Visit https://www.thebigrock.com/prize-money/ for a complete list of standings & current leaderboard!

SLOW DAY AT THE SCALES

Due to forecasted offshore conditions, 11 boats chose to fish Day 4! SEA WOLF scored the ONLY release of the day! Their blue marlin release came at 1:39PM and will (unofficially) earn them the Daily Release prize money worth $47, 813 + $5,000 for the Gregory Poole 1st Release (and only) of the day! Congratulations crew!

Just three gamefish were brought in after a slow day offshore. Two of which were off of DOUBLE B- a 16.9-pounder & a 25-pound dolphin good for 1st in Daily gamefish winnings for $2,000. MARKED OFF took home 2nd place in the daily prize money cashing in $1,000!

We’re expecting action to pick back up tomorrow as most of the fleet took their two mandatory lay days Wednesday & Thursday. Listen LIVE with Randy on the radio starting with lines in at 9AM. Visit https://www.thebigrock.com/prize-money/ for a complete list of standings & current leaderboard!

WOMEN WIN ON WEDNESDAY

Lady anglers brought plenty of action to Big Rock Landing after a slow day of fishing offshore. Although there weren’t any boated blue marlin, the 76 boats offshore managed to rack up a total of 21 billfish releases- 12 blues, 2 whites & 7 sailfish.

LO QUE SEA stays on top of the release division with 2250.0 points after releasing 2 sailfish & 1 blue marlin. MAMA WHO made out with 800 points for two blue marlin releases! Bets were on GRAND SLAM after fighting their fish for more than 6 hours before it pulled the hook! Even Junior Angler, Ty Fletcher, joined in on the fun with a blue marlin release aboard WOLVERINE! A $6,200 payout goes to CHUNDA for releasing the 62nd fish of the tournament, congratulations crew!

It was obvious the ladies came to WIN the weigh-ins this afternoon! Jean Reynolds, off ORRSMAN, won $2,000 in daily prize money for her 36.7-pound wahoo! RENEGADE’s Jeannie Mauchline was less than one pound short of the 1st place daily dolphin winnings. Her 37.1-pound dolphin was still good enough to take 2nd place in the daily division worth $1,000! Junior Angler, Kayley Rowland, also made an appearance with her 21.2-pound catch on HIGH TIME. It was WOLVERINE’s Rob Helzer who weighed the largest dolphin of the day cashing in $2,000 for a 37.9 pounder.

Sporty seas called for a calmer day on land. The leaderboard remains untouched…for now! Lines are in at 9:00 AM & the hunt for the 500-pounder is STILL ON!

EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR OVER CATCH 23

Another action-packed day! Tuesday started off right away with a boated blue marlin from DANCIN’ OUTLAW! Lines were in the water less than an hour & Captain Wood and crew had already BOATED a blue! Their 470.4-pound catch landed them in 3rd place for now. Shortly after, HAMMER TIME boated a blue & brought in a 450.2-pound marlin that just missed the leaderboard.

Excitement was in the AIR when Michael Jordan’s CATCH 23 backed in with a 442.3-pound blue marlin! REEL STEEL wrapped up the afternoon with a 450-pound blue marlin caught by Marc Berzaleno. SEA FIX finally released their blue after a 6 hour fight.

The Fabulous Fisherman’s prize money, worth a whopping $552,500, is still FAIR GAME for the first fish over 500 lbs!

198 of the 205 total boats were offshore today & went to TOWN on the blue marlin releases! A total of 50 (unverified) blues were released today and more than 100 billfish have been released this week! LO QUE SEA, KWLA Winner, was on a ROLL! After taking home the Gregory Poole 1st Release of the Day with a blue marlin release worth $5,000, they went on to release TWO MORE  blues- giving them a total of 1600 points going in to day 3! CHUNDA, ZEUS, and SEA I SEA also each scored 2 blue marlin releases for the day! Unofficially, MICABE’s blue marlin release at 9:48 was the 62nd release of the tournament, earning them an easy $6,200!

C-ESCAPE’s 75.2-pound wahoo, caught by Randy Britt, stole 1st place and took home $2,000 in daily prize money. SINGULARIS shook up the leaderboard with a 55.2-pound dolphin and is in the running for $395,250 in the WTA Dolphin division.

Catch up on all the coverage via our Facebook page- follow us & be the first to see all the upcoming action this week! Lines in at 9AM, TIGHT LINES!

READY, SET, RECORD PUR$E!

The 62nd Annual Big Rock Tournament sets RECORD-BREAKING $3,352,475 PURSE for a fleet of 205 participating boats!

HATTER-DONE’s blue marlin came in weighing 488-pounds, just 12 lbs. short of winning $552,500 for the Fabulous Fisherman’s Level!

The fourth and final blue marlin was another close call! PREDATOR’s catch was less than 5-POUNDS from cashing in the Fabulous Fisherman’s prize money, 494.2-pounds! That leaves PREDATOR in 1st & HATTER-DONE in second for now. The race continues tomorrow with lines in at 9AM!

HOT is an understatement for the bite & the releases were on repeat today! Day 1 racked up a total of 57 billfish releases- of those 57, 46 were blue marlin releases (unofficially), 8 whites & 3 sailfish! PEGGY won $5,000 for Monday’s Gregory Poole First Release of the Day! ORRSMAN had the best day with 3 blue marlin releases. MISS PEGGY SUE II, ANN WARRICK, OUTNUMBERED and HORSE PLAY all ended with 800 points each.

TAIL GUNNER and REEL COUNTRY weighed blue marlin that did not meet the minimum tournament requirements.

GAMEFISH RECAP:
PERSISTENCE took home today’s daily dolphin prize worth $2,000 for their 47.5lb. catch. A junior angler aboard SALT LICK took the 2nd Place daily prize of $1,000 after landing a 46.2lb. dolphin.

Today brought TWO wahoo winners! A 47.2 pound wahoo earned HAMMER TIME a $2,000 payday for their 1st Place catch. Another junior angler hit the scales with 16.8 pounder earning them $1,000 in daily prize money from SECOND CHANCE.

Visit here for a complete list of standings & current leaderboard! 

 

UNOFFICIAL KWLA TOURNAMENT RESULTS!

⏤Unofficial Results⏤
LO QUE SEA is the WINNER of the 23rd Annual KWLA Tournament, presented by BB&T | Now Truist! An early blue marlin release by Mindy Fitzpatrick earned the team 400 pts, but it was Michelle Keeney’s 27.9-pound dolphin that sealed the deal! LO QUE SEA’s 1st Place win earned them $31,663 in total prize money for Level I & Level III Release WTA, sponsored by Eastern Turf Maintenance!

THE GENERAL & WELDOR’S ARK land 2nd & 3rd, respectively. THE GENERAL ended with one blue marlin release & a 19.2-pound dolphin from Katie Salter good enough for $5,483. WELDOR’S ARK fished on Saturday & collected $3,655 for one blue marlin release and 10.4-pound dolphin by Junior Angler, Gillian Ricks!

SENSATION crew caught the second TUNA of the tournament & took 1st Place with their 39.3-pound catch, worth a whopping $19,106 with rollover money! BILL COLLECTOR’s 29.7-pound tuna may have taken 2nd place, but it still landed the team a $2,436 payout.

One wahoo was brought to Big Rock Landing & it was caught by Abby Jones, aka superwoman. Abby is not only the owner of OFF SEASON, but the boat captain AND angler of their 18.3-pound catch. 1st Place wahoo paid out $3,655! 

CARTERICAN held onto 1st Place dolphin AND Level II Dolphin WTA with their 30.9-pound mahi cashing in a total $28,730! TACKLE BOX finished 2nd with a 28.3-pound dolphin and $2,436 pay day. 

12 billfish were released over the course of the weekend- 5 (unverified) blue marlin, 2 white marlin, and 5 sailfish. Gamefish were HOT with 20 dolphin, 2 tuna & 1 wahoo!

Official tournament results will be announced once all fish have been verified.

 

WEIGH STATION PROTOCOL

HEADS UP!  Please be aware of the Weigh Station protocol for everyone during tournament week! Questions? Please contact Big Rock headquarters, (252) 247-3575

As we are sure you are aware, we are currently under the NC Governor’s Executive Order No. 141 Phase 2.  In addition to those guidelines,  the following protocol will be adhered to at the Big Rock Weigh Station:
  • Weigh station area will be blocked off with signage stating for people not to enter. Spectators will not be allowed to gather.
     
  • The area inside of the blocked off area will be limited to weigh station staff and designated tournament staff; no more than 9 people will be allowed in the designated weigh-in area at one time (9 combined staff plus one angler = 10)
     
  • Only one angler/team representative, with their fish to be weighed, will be allowed in the weigh station area at a time; the angler/team representative must remain in a marked designated angler area at least six feet away.
     
  • When vessel is in weigh-slip, crew must remain on the vessel until the Weigh Master directs the angler/team representative to the marked designated angler area.
     
  • Only one angler/team representative at a time will be allowed on the chase boat with their fish to be weighed.
     
  • After the fish has been weighed & data recorded, the angler may be photographed beside the fish at the direction of the Weigh Master and only after weigh station and designated tournament staff have left the area.
     
  • Tournament staff is required to wear face coverings, and we ask you to as well. Weigh station staff and designated tournament staff will provide their own face coverings, necessary PPE, disinfectant, and hand sanitizers; scales, tables and other frequently touched surfaces will be disinfected frequently.

IMPORTANT KWLA Tournament UPDATE!

Due to the forecast for Saturday, June 6th, the tournament has made the decision to offer lady angler participants the option to fish on ONE of two days. The KWLA tournament will remain a one-day only event, with the choice of fishing either Saturday OR Sunday from 8AM to 2PM.

KWLA participants must register before lines-in on Saturday morning to be eligible to fish either day. If you plan to fish on Sunday, your registration must be submitted with payment prior to 8AM on Saturday, June 6th.

Questions? Contact Crystal Hesmer, (252) 241-1515 – Madison Maxwell, (252) 725-1568.

RAFFLE TICKETS FOR 5 YURMAN DRAWINGS!

WIN A DAVID YURMAN PIECE, OR TWO!! Now available: $20 Raffle Tickets to be entered to WIN any of these 5 David Yurman pieces, valued at $5,000, donated by Bailey’s Fine Jewelry! There will be FIVE SEPARATE drawings on Saturday, June 13 at 6:00PM broadcasted LIVE from Big Rock Landing on Facebook + Big Rock TV. Proceeds generated will benefit Big Rock charities.

Purchase online here, or in-store at tournament headquarters. For online purchases, please select “no shipping method” during checkout. $20 per ticket. You don’t need to be present to win. Prizes must be claimed by 6-26-2020.


– White Gold Diamond By the Yard Necklace: This Diamonds by the Yard necklace is a MUST have! It is 14 karat white gold with 8 bezel set round brilliant cut diamonds (0.50ct total). This necklace is 17” so it layers perfectly with almost anything, but it can also make a statement worn on its own. Retail is $1,395.

– David Yurman Cable Collection Bracelet with Blue Topaz: The David Yurman Cable Collection is the most classic and iconic of them all. This sterling silver and 18 karat yellow gold 7mm bracelet with blue topaz end caps is a great addition to your jewelry wardrobe. Add it to your stack or simply wear it by itself! Retail is $825.

– David Yurman Crossover Medium Hoop Earrings: No jewelry wardrobe is complete without a pair of hoop earrings! These sterling silver and 18 karat yellow gold medium crossover hoop earrings are from David Yurman’s Crossover Collection. Retail is $650.

– David Yurman Initial Charm Necklace with Diamonds: Personalize your jewelry wardrobe with this David Yurman Initial Charm necklace. Choose from any letter in the alphabet to represent yourself or a loved one. This necklace is sterling silver and is adjustable from 16-18”. The initials are completed in pavé diamonds and vary in carat weight by letter. Retail is $595.

– David Yurman Sterling Silver and 18 Karat Yellow Gold Large Oval Link Bracelet: Tie together your sterling silver and gold jewelry with this David Yurman large oval link bracelet. This bracelet has alternating sterling silver and 18 karat yellow gold links. It is part of the Chain Collection and is 7.5” in length with a lobster clasp. It adds the perfect amount of texture to your existing stack or is a great starter style! Retail is $1,500.