Washington native hooks winning dolphin at Big Rock Tournament

Lines drawn, captain Will Ross and the Haphazard cut its way through five-foot swells in search of a blue marlin larger and heavier than the average motorcycle. Fishing alongside 120 boats, the chances of hooking a quarter-million-dollar fish on the first day of the infamous Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament earlier this month were slim, but it was simply the thrill of the hunt that drew Ross and eight others to the rich waters off the Beaufort Inlet.

An avid fisherman and common presence on the Pamlico River, Washington native Marshall Rich decided to test his luck offshore as an angler aboard the Haphazard.

After trolling the deep-sea waters for some time, one of the anglers aboard felt a tug on the big marlin rod, capable of pulling in one of these motorcycle-sized fish. Five minutes later, the collection of amateur fisherman was dragging a good-sized mahi-mahi, or dolphin, to the deck.

Unimpressed with the size and knowing dolphin routinely follow one another, the captain recommended the anglers drop little rods with dink ballyhoo baits in the water. Rich and his companions complied.

“Sure enough, we hooked another one,” Rich said. “We had fought a few fish before this one and I have passed a few rods off. I’d say, ‘No, you take this one.’ Finally, there was no one left to fight this fish, so they handed the rod to me.”

Rich, familiar with catching stripers on the Pamlico, was suddenly staring down the largest fish he had ever hooked. Soon, five minutes turned into 10 and 10 became 30, as the dolphin continued to battle. Part of the crew wanted to cut the fish in order to concentrate their time and energy pursuing blue marlin instead.

“The captain said, ‘uh, that could be an $80,000 fish,’” Rich said. “Everyone went deafly quiet and got real serious. That’s when we all realized that this dolphin could be a huge payout.”

Despite marlin being the ultimate goal of a Big Rock angler, there was also a gamefish category with a potential payout of over $85,000.

After denying Rich the opportunity to increase the drag pressure, the captain watched as the Washington native spent another half hour trying to reel in the dolphin.

“Several times we got him close to the boat and he would just peel off, then I’d get him back up and you’d start to see a little color,” Rich said. “(It was a) really strong fish that we had hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth. The last 10 minutes I was praying, ‘Lord, just get this thing in the boat. Focus, focus, focus. Don’t give him any slack.’”

Finally, on a line meant to hold the weight of a 20-pound fish, Rich and his crew reeled in and raised the 45.5-pound dolphin to the deck.

Once 3 p.m. and hit, the Haphazard made its way back to Morehead City to weigh in. A smaller boat was waiting to take the nine men to shore, where they would be greeted with applause from a large group of onlookers.

Rich’s 45.5-pound dolphin was clearly the largest gamefish caught on the first day, but there was another five days of fishing to go. For the remainder of the tournament, the crew fished and anxiously watched the leaderboard.

“Every day we were biting our nails to see if someone would bring anything in bigger,” Rich said. “On Wednesday, a boat called the Sandrita brought one in the exact same size, 45.5 … to the tenth of an inch. A twin of my fish.

“We saw the fish come in and everyone’s heart dropped. Everyone started getting on their phones and looking up the rules.”

One of the rules of the tournament states that in the result of a tie, the first catch takes the pot. The Haphazard’s catch was safe for now.

Eventually, Saturday came about and the final fish was weighed. “That’s when it kind of hit me, and I began to smile,” Rich said. “I get to be part of this Big Rock Tournament for the rest of my life, my name up there as an angler.”

The fish paid out almost $90,000, which would be split between boat costs, the shareholders (fishing enthusiasts have the opportunity to put money on a boat) and the nine men aboard the Haphazard: Tom Townes, A. Hobgood, Billy Ramsey, John Huebner, Adam Shack and Adam Ibrahim, first mate Joe Bonvetti and captain Ross.

As for Rich, his memorable (and profitable) experience at the Big Rock Tournament has him counting down the days until next year’s competition, which is set to begin June 5.