Large crowds gather at the Morehead City waterfront during the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament to watch competitors arrive at the weigh station.

When billfish competitors begin to register for the 50th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, they’ll take their first step toward winning part of a cash purse that’s exceeded $1 million each of the past ten years.

And last year was no exception. Anglers on 184 boats battled for a record Big Rock purse of $1,568,950 purse. That’s quite a change from the original Big Rock prize: a child’s red wagon filled with silver dollars.

To understand how far the Big Rock has come in the last 50 years, you need to travel back in time to the spring of 1957. Back then, nobody was certain that billfish existed in the waters off the North Carolina coast. Back then, commercial fishermen seldom ventured out beyond sight of the coastline. Their families had worked coastal waters for generations. Except for the sailors who worked the commercial freighters that traveled in and out of Morehead City, no one had ever seen these fish. Most locals dismissed the transient-sailor sightings as “bar talk’’ since the deck hands didn’t know where they were at the time these fish were seen. Since blue-marlin skeletons never washed ashore, the reports were believed to be idle chatter.

Still . . . the rumors persisted.

Finally the day came when members of the Fabulous Fishermen Club decided to settle the issue once and for all. The Fabulous Fishermen were a loose-knit organization of Morehead City fishing enthusiasts who gathered on the waterfront most mornings to share a story or two and a cup of coffee. They got together with several of the local merchants and announced they would pay a cash prize to the first person who could catch a blue marlin in the waters off the Crystal Coast.

That cash prize did the trick. Intended to promote deep-sea fishing and to help support the area’s infant charter boat industry, it encouraged anglers and captains to head further offshore. Fishermen sighted blue marlin throughout that summer. But despite the sightings, no one was able to land the beautiful, elusive fish.

Those summer failures gave way to an autumn success. On Sept. 14, 1957, Raleigh angler Jimmy Croy, fishing aboard the Mary Z with Capt. K.W. “Bill’’ Olsen, landed a 143-pound blue marlin. This special catch forever changed the face of Crystal Coast fishing.

Sound the Sirens
Before Croy’s marlin ever reached shore, Olsen radioed Bump Styron, who owned the Morehead City Yacht Basin, to report the historic catch. Styron, in turn, notified Bob Campbell -- WMBL-AM Radio’s “Voice of Fishing’’ for 37 years -- and Campbell got the word out to the public.

Not to long after that, a crowd of about a hundred gathered at Styron’s yacht basin to await the arrival of the “big’’ fish. In the meantime, Tony Seamon and his son, Tony Jr., went to First Citizen’s Bank where bank president Jim Bob Sanders kept a sealed sack of silver dollars.

Tony Seamon Jr., was given the task of counting out the prize money. He poured the coins into a little red wagon, a child’s toy donated just moments before by the manager at Rose’s department store.

Then, amid police sirens, car horns and as much vocal ruckus as could be mustered, the red wagon was pulled through the streets of Morehead City to the place where the fish would arrive. It was the first celebration of an event that would soon become the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.
 

Humble beginnings
A picture of that famous first marlin appeared in the September 17, 1957, edition of the Carteret County News-Times. Ironically, the event merited just three paragraphs on an inside page. No other pictures of the fish are known to exist.

Since nobody knew the Big Rock would become such a huge event, nobody kept accurate records in the early years of the competition. Reports on the amount of the first cash prize vary from $250 to $500.

Tony Seamon Jr. told Big Rock officials that he remembered counting out 500 silver dollars into that little red wagon. Campbell reported that the prize was only $325 and later revised that amount to $300. Dick Parker, a charter member of the Fabulous Fishermen Club, insisted that the first prize was $250 and grew to $350 in subsequent years. Bob Simpson, founding member of the Fabulous Fishermen says the final prize was $350 for the first fish.

Still, these prize amounts are a pittance compared to what the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament doles out these days. Last year, Billy Barnwell of  South Carolina and the crew aboard Bak Bar received a first-place prize of $800,837.50. The Big Rock has come to mean big money and big excitement -- a nationally-sponsored competition that’s famous throughout the world.

Tournament Changes
Over the years, the annual competition has changed its name, altered its format, adjusted its sponsorship and modified its rules. The Big Rock board of directors continues to fine tune the event to ensure the tournament always represents good times and great fishing.

New Changes This Year
The Under 40 Category -- An under 40ft. boat category is included in the mandatory entry fee. Boat lengths are requested on each entry form and will be determined by the manufacturers stated length. The winning boat will be determined by the largest qualifying blue marlin weighed in by a boat 40 ft. and under. In the event no qualifying blue marlin is weighed, the boat 40 ft. and under with the most release points will receive the prize of $10,000.

Mandatory Circle Hook Usage – The National Marine Fisheries Service implemented a circle hook rule for billfish tournaments on January 1. All anglers fishing from HMS permitted vessels and participating in billfish tournaments are required to use only non-offset circle hooks when deploying natural bait or natural bait/artificial lures. This requirement allows billfish tournament anglers to use J-hooks on artificial lures only.

New Level VI- The Fabulous Fishermen's Level VI is a new addition for the 50th Annual event.  All the prize money in this level will go to the first blue marlin landed that is 500 lbs. or over.  If 50 boats enter this level, that's a purse of $250,000!!

Continued Focus on conservation
Billfish preservation has been a major concern for Big Rock tournament officials and competitors for more than a decade.

Ten years ago, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament’s board of directors raised the minimum weight limit to land a blue marlin to 400 pounds.

The 400-pound weight limit was at the time, 200 pounds above regulations set by the federal government.

Tournament rules adopted in 1997 required Big Rock anglers to release all blue marlin that did not weigh more than 400 pounds or measure at least 110 inches in length. Anglers who bring blue marlin to the scales that do not meet these minimums are penalized 400 pounds on any subsequent blue marlin weighed during the remainder of the tournament. They are also penalized 400 points from the total of the release points earned during the competition. Marine biologists take charge of blue marlin brought to the weigh station so they can study and research this important species. Proceeds from every Big Rock tournament are donated to support organizations that are dedicated to help pelagic species flourish.

International competitors
The Big Rock is a prestigious marlin tournament that’s attracted competitors from around the world. During the past years, anglers from all across the United States including three international teams have participated in the six-day offshore competition. Winning the Big Rock has become a the focus of many top billfish competitors.

Lady Anglers
While many people consider blue-marlin fishing a “man’s” sport, it is the ladies who have dominated the headlines in recent years. In 1993, Kathy Keel of Edenton landed a 759-pound blue marlin to win the 35th annual Big Rock. She held the all-time Big Rock record until June 15, 2000 when Ron Wallschlager of Kiawah Island, S.C. reeled in an 831-pounder to win the 42nd Big Rock.

Two years ago, Gigi Wagoner of Fredrick, Md., became the fourth woman to win the Big Rock. Fishing aboard the Ocean City-based charter boat Size Matters, Wagoner reeled in a 529-pounder and carved out the narrowest victory in the history of the event.

Anglers like Keel and Wagoner were the inspiration behind the creation of a one-day ladies event that serves to introduce women to sports fishing. Last year, the eighth annual Big Rock Lady Angler Tournament offered a record purse to a record field of 71 boats. Nearly 200 competitors battled for prize money in gamefish and billfish release divisions, with proceeds from the event designated to support the Raab Oncology Clinic of Morehead City.

Other Big Rock Changes of Note

• Winner Take All Category: First adopted in 2004, the “Winner Take All” category has become a big favorite with the competitors. Participants must enter other levels of the competition to have shot at the big-money prize. Last year, a record 140 entered in all levels of the competition.

• Federal Permits Required: It is a federal requirement that anglers possess a valid Highly Migratory Species (HMS) permit anytime they go offshore and fish for blue marlin. Big Rock rules clearly state the license requirements for the competition.

Newest Big Rock tradition: Outstanding Cybercast Coverage

Big Rock fans have enjoyed outstanding tournament coverage ever since the competition became an online event. Fans of the competition view the Big Rock website to follow the offshore action.

Competition updates are provided seconds after a hookup is reported. Updates, pictures and special interactive features are provided.

Throughout the tournament, staff members and big rock volunteers work long hours to provide live weigh-in coverage and up-to-the-minute reports about offshore action. Weigh-ins are captured with a Webcam - a feature that’s become a world-wide hit.

The advent of digital internet access has enabled thousands to stay connected to the Big Rock web site throughout the day. Webcam data from the past three Big Rocks indicate the tournament has legions of fans in Japan and other international locations. Many international viewers log on for more than 10 hours at a time while the competition is under way. The Big Rock continues to be an international sensation.

In 2008:
Look for the addition of live streaming video and the BIG ROCK TV BROADCAST during the afternoon weigh-in's from 4:00-7:00 pm everyday.  The exciting new addition will feature interviews with the anglers as they weigh in and commentary by historians, captains and others as time permits.

Quiet Beginnings
 

In the early years, the Big Rock could barely be considered a tournament. There were no rules of consequence, and only a few boats participated. When prizes became part of the affair, the total booty looked like the results of a scavenger hunt.

In 1965, a listing of the prizes included one quart of varnish.

Limitations were few. Generally speaking, a member of the Fabulous Fishermen Club -- a collection of Morehead City fishing enthusiasts -- won the Big Rock if he docked the first blue of the season. This catch had to happen before a November 1 cutoff date. Tournament growth was slow. In 1958, George Bedsworth, captain of the Dolphin, pocketed a $325 prize. It would take years for the tournament to grow into the giant that is now known as the Big Rock.

 

In 1960 and 1961, “Fab Fishermen’’ didn’t even recognize previous efforts. The 1960 event -- won by angler Carroll Williams of Petersburg, Virginia, aboard the Bunny Too captained by Arthur Lewis of Morehead

City -- featured a special Pfleuger Trophy provided by world-renown taxidermist Al Pfleuger of Miami, Fla. Pfleuger would continue to mount the winning Big Rock fish for the next several years. It is not known if any of these mounts still exist.
 

In 1961, rules were published for the first time, and, significantly, the tournament rewarded game fish releases -- a conservation effort that came 27 years before any federally-mandated liberations.

But fishermen being fishermen, the releases had to be “bonafide” to qualify for the tournament plaque. According to published rules, the report of a “Palm Beach’’ release (fish that simply got away), was “frowned’’ upon.

The 1963 edition of the tournament, and the one that immediately followed, sought to find out who could boat the most blue marlin. The ‘63 tournaments concluded with 64 blue marlin brought to the scales. This huge number of blue marlins makes it hard to imagine that less than six years before, no one had ever caught a blue marlin off the Carteret County coast.

In fact, Croy’s catch on the Mary Z was something that came about quite by accident. The only reason the Mary Z was out in 50 fathoms of water that day was because Olsen was giving the Mary Z its first test in ocean waters. Olsen had just finished building the craft for Bryan Rock and Sand Co. of Raleigh, N.C. He took Croy as his “party’’ that day . . . to show him the warm offshore waters located in the Gulf Stream.

Once there, Croy had the experience of a lifetime. After a 38-minute battle, the area’s first blue marlin was landed.

Olsen had jokingly bragged he would catch the first marlin only days before this test run. He celebrated the catch late into the night with several of his Fabulous Fishermen Club friends. But nobody in the raucous group had any idea what was about to come.

Geometric Changes
From humble beginnings -- a simple challenge to catch the first blue marlin -- the event grew into an annual contest. Year after year, the event became more structured as new rules were added. The “Fabulous Fishermen’s Blue Marlin Tournament’’ was renamed the “Big Rock’’ in 1972 because that’s the spot in the Gulf Stream where everyone went to fish.

After a dozen years, entries in the tournament began to grow. The handful of boats during the early years led to 35 boats in 1970. The tournament topped 111 boats in 1979 and 177 boats in 1989. The Big Rock currently averages 190 boats and nearly 1,500 competitors.

Cash prizes grew by leaps and bounds starting in the ‘80’s. In 1974, the winning boat received just $800. Ten years later, the purse reached $70,000. Big Rock fans were later thrilled when the 1988 purse topped $90,800. That total is now dwarfed by the $112,000 that the Big Rock donated to charities last year.
Since it’s inception, the Big Rock has raised and donated more than $1,546,250 to its charities.

Into the Future

Who could predict the amazing growth of the Big Rock Tournament during the first years of its existence? The people who viewed the first celebration had no hint of what was to come.

Perhaps future events will span two weeks, as the competition did in its infancy. Perhaps special instruments will be invented that have the ability to measure the size of a blue marlin through radio telemetry so that boating these fish becomes a thing of the past. Many think the time will come when all boats will be outfitted with special cameras to transfer the action back to a television audience on shore. Cameras would verify catches and relay fishing action back to an eager public. The same cameras that put racing enthusiasts in the driver’s seat of a NASCAR race car could soon transport fishing enthusiasts offshore to the fighting chair. That would bring Big Rock fishing home to millions who will never get a chance to fish competitively offshore.

Perhaps a day will come when international divisions will be formed. U.S. teams will battle anglers from other countries. Two years ago, a team from Puerto Rico nearly finished in the money. The competition has a tremendous potential to grow and has become one of the top billfish competitions in the world.

Since some people already call the Big Rock the ``Super Bowl of fishing,’’ perhaps others will begin to call that late January football game the “Big Rock’’ of football. Whatever happens, it’s been a wild and wonderful journey. And it all began a little more than 49 years ago when Jimmy Croy and Bill Olsen landed a very special fish.