It’s marlin mania on the NC coast this week, with a record-breaking $7.5 million purse

Brian Brady cruised into Big Rock Landing off a 61-foot yacht, holding a 61-pound fish by the tail while 500 fans drooled from the dock, wishing they’d caught it themselves.

He offered his prize wahoo up for weighing, and it landed him in first place on what locals were already calling “Wahoo Wednesday” for the flood of torpedo-shaped fish.

Not a single blue marlin arrived for the weigh-in on the third day of the tournament that bears its name. But fans all cheered and snapped pictures of Brady and his wahoo, knowing that fishing is often an empty gamble and the biggest fish require the biggest ante.

“It took about 25 minutes, and it was exciting,” said Brady, from Roanoke, Va. “We hoped we could come down with a 600-pound blue, but this is the best you can get.

“I’ve been following this tournament forever,” he continued. “I’ve been watching this tournament forever. I watch all of this every year. It’s all I watch on social media. To be here, to have one to weigh in, is incredible.”

A record-breaking year

Brady’s fish-inspired outburst came on day three of the 66th Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, an event that began in the 1950s at a time when blue marlin were fish the locals considered nonexistent around the North Carolina coast, dismissed as an unrealistic fantasy for the amateur angler.

Then five local business people issued a challenge to the first who could land a blue marlin in these coastal waters, offering a Radio Flyer wagon full of silver dollars as a prize.

And by 2024, the Big Rock has grown so popular that it set a record-breaking number of 302 boats entered in this year’s tournament, with another record-setting $7.5 million purse.

On Monday, a North Carolina crew won $1.7 million for hauling in a 504-pound blue marlin — the first in the tournament to tip the scales at a quarter-ton. And by organizers’ estimates, something in the neighborhood of 7,500 people stood on hand to watch as fish groupies.

Some who came hailed from as far as San Diego or Paris, Texas.

“I’ve always been a fan,” said Deon Wren, a native of Trinidad and retired U.S. Marine who stood filming the weigh-in for hours. “To me, this is a chance to see the fish up close. Observe and dream.”

The Michael Jordan effect

Its organizers readily explain how their contest went from local bragging rights with a prize totaling a few hundred bucks to a tournament with a full-time staff, a wide-ranging fan base, million-dollar prizes, its own app and even a controversy over last year’s disqualified winning marlin — bitten by a shark. (Fish mutilated before being caught are ineligible.)

“I think people just realize what a gem the area is as far as marine life and what they can catch out there,” said Lindsay Parker, granddaughter of a Big Rock founder. “You wouldn’t have a tournament if you didn’t have these big fish. The Gulf Stream takes a few hours to get to. It’s not like the Bahamas where you can go right offshore. But the fish are obviously out there.

“Then there’s always the Michael Jordan effect.”

By that she meant His Airness, a Big Rock regular fans crane their necks to find, reportedly angling this year in a new 82-foot yacht.

Even today, when sport fishing boats cost upward of $15 million, and when anglers combat their prey armed with decades of know-how, the fish remain elusive. As of the end of day 3, only four of them stood on the leaderboard, the heaviest at 516 pounds.

But the wahoo abounded Wednesday.

“I have caught a few,” said one angler, showing off his 50-plus pounder. “Probably 80-plus. They’re bigger in the Bahamas.”

Tommy Bennett, an event announcer on the Big Rock‘s board of director, quipped right back:

“We’ve got a few big ones, too.”