Fishing crew reels in $1.7M prize fish at North Carolina tournament: ‘Everybody was screaming’

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. ( WAVY ) — Captain Rom Whitaker spent much of his life chartering fishing boats out of Cape Hatteras, off the coast of North Carolina. He’s fished in tournaments before, but on Monday, he reeled in the most valuable catch of his entire career.

“We put a lot of time into being successful, and the good lord was looking after us yesterday,” Whitaker said.

Out to sea early on the first day of the 66th Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, Capt. Whitaker and his fishing crew — which included angler Kirk Pugh — knew they had caught a big one.

“So we started pulling it in the boat, and as we were pulling it in, it seemed like it got bigger and bigger,” Whitaker recalled of pulling the marlin into his vessel, called Release. “And I said, man, that fish, I believe this is real close to a 500-pounder.”

It took about 45 minutes for the crew to hoist their catch onto the boat, after which they brought it back to shore. All the way, they had hopes of winning the Fabulous Fisherman’s Prize, which is awarded to the first crew that brings back a 500-plus-pound fish.

This year, that prize amounted to over $1.7 million, a chunk of which was rolled over from last year after nobody managed to win the prize during the 2023 tournament.

“I just had a really good feeling the fish was really thick,” Whitaker said. “I mean, from the head all the way back to just about its tail, it was really thick. And I said, boy, is this a really nice blue marlin.”

The crowd in Moorehead City erupted when Whitaker and his crew got back with their catch. They hoisted up the massive marlin — which was about double the height of the crew members — and got the official weight: 504 pounds.

In total, Whitaker, Pugh, and the rest of the crew were awarded $1,729,950, according to the organizers of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.

As their marlin was the largest caught so far, the crew was also briefly eligible for even more prize money. On Tuesday, however, another crew reeled in a 516-pound blue marlin, overtaking the 504-pound fish on the tournament’s leaderboard.

Still, the crew of Release gets to keep their Fabulous Fisherman’s prize money. Whitaker said he might use his chunk to buy a new boat engine.

He’s also still reeling from the excitement of Monday’s catch, telling Nexstar’s WAVY he was a little overwhelmed when riding back into Morehead City with the marlin.

“Everybody was screaming,” Whitaker said. “I was a rock star for about an hour.”

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