Posted on 06/21/2010 2:30:02 PM PDT by rawhide
Marlin fishing is a big-money business, from the multi-million dollar boats to the million-dollar-plus purse in tournaments like Morehead City’s Big Rock.
Still, the deep-pocketed fishermen and hired hands aboard need the same $15 North Carolina recreational fishing license everyone else does.
That lesson could cost one boat hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A record-setting blue marlin that would have won almost $1 million in last week’s Big Rock was on the verge of disqualification today as tournament officials investigated whether one of the boat’s hired crewmen failed to purchase a license.
Andy Thomasson, hauled in the record-setting 883-pound blue marlin aboard the Hatteras-based Citation last Monday, the first day of the weeklong tournament. He waited all week for a bigger fish to be caught. None was, and the Citation claimed $912,825 in prize money.
But there was no presentation during Saturday's awards banquet and Sunday morning, the Big Rock released this cryptic statement: “The Big Rock board of directors withheld presentation of blue marlin prize money until an alleged rules violation by the top team has been totally researched and a decision made regarding this alleged violation.”
A spokesperson for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries confirmed that Peter Martin Wann, 22, of Alexandria, Va., was cited for fishing without a license on Sunday, which carries a $35 fine and $125 in court costs.
Citation owner Michael Topp told WITN-TV that captain Eric Holmes, while taking the polygraph examination required of all Big Rock winners, one of his mates never produced proof of his license. Topp told the television station Big Rock officials then confronted the mate.
Big Rock tournament director Crystal Watters said a final decision was expected by 5 p.m. today, but shortly before that deadline, the tournament issued a statement announcing the investigation remained ongoing.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...
Ouch!
Ouch! That’s gonna leave a mark.
But, wait...he’s just “undocumented”...
That guy should get amnesty for being undocumented! Just ask Juan McLame!
With a name like his, I doubt he is undocumented? Probably just a lazy guy, trying to save a buck or two?
Do the tournement rules say that the hired mate needs a fishing liscense?? That is goofy if he is not the angler.
Ya think he stands a chance of NOT finding more work as a crewman?
I went to Alaska as a young man and signed on a fishing boat as a Junior Baiter.
After 6 months I was a qualified Master Baiter.
Hard life.
Woah... yah... it looks like they’re saying it was a member of the crew that didn’t have a license. The angler had his license. That doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t see why a mate needs a license. He’s just assisting the guy who’s fishing. He’s not fishing himself.
An a lie detector test?? Something is fishy here.
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