Author: Madison Maxwell

Don’t forget to download the Big Rock mobile APPon your apple or android device for the latest tournament updates & happenings- including both Big Rock & KWLA Tournament details. The Big Rock app features tournament leader boards, scoring, audio/video feeds, participants, photos, fishing statistics & more! Provided by Reel Time Apps.

TO DOWNLOAD via iOS or Android: Search “Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament” in the app store / Google Play. WEB: Visit https://www.reeltimeapps.com/live/tournaments/61st-annual-big-rock-blue-marlin-tournament

The Big Rock Keli Wagner Lady Angler Tournament (KWLA) is gearing up for another record-breaking year as it celebrates its 22nd Annual event on June 7-8, 2019.

The KWLA Tournament is one of the largest ladies-only events in the world & serves as a launch pad from which the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament begins. Last year, the lady angler tournament set the stage in a big way with a record field of 161 boats. The KWLA tournament has set new records for boat counts in each of the last six years.

“It just keeps getting better!”, exclaimed KWLA Tournament Director, Madison Maxwell. “To be the second largest tournament in North Carolina, behind Big Rock, is incredible. We’re ready for this year to be even more epic than the last!”

Similar to the Big Rock Tournament in 2017, the KWLA Tournament will now require all blue marlin releases to be verified. To qualify for the 400 points, teams must turn in a Release Form in person along with indisputable video or photo evidence that the released billfish is a blue marlin. If the rules committee is unable to see indisputable evidence that the fish is a blue marlin, the release will be scored at 125 points.

The Winner Take All Billfish level was added to the KWLA line-up in 2018. 116 of the 161 boats participated in this new level. For an additional $500, participants can double their overall billfish release winnings. The Winner Take All Dolphin category is always a huge success with last year’s top team winning $71,151. There were no wahoo or tuna caught in the 21st Annual tournament; therefore, $5,701.51 from 2018 will rollover to 2019 for both the largest wahoo & largest tuna gamefish categories.

The Big Rock Lady Angler Tournament is proud to host a Big Rock, Big Hero during the 22nd Annual event. LTJG Jessica Tull is Chief of the Reserve Force Readiness System Staff in the United States Coast Guard. Before entering the service, Jessica was a school teacher at Bogue Sound Elementary. Jessica is stationed at Fort Macon and will be the first female to participate in the Big Rock, Big Hero experience.

The Big Rock Lady Angler tournament is named in honor of the late wife of Big Rock board member, Casey Wagner. The tournament was originally just called the “Lady Anglers Tournament,” but in 2008 when Keli Wagner lost her battle with cancer, the tournament decided to honor the longtime contributor by naming the event after her. Keli was enthusiastic about the success of this tournament and she played a vital role in having the tournament proceeds donated to the cancer clinic. To date, KWLA has donated a total of $303,916 towards the improvement of patient comfort and care.

The KWLA Tournament, sponsored by Alexseal Yacht Coatings, is a one-day billfish release tournament with lines dropping in at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 8th, 2019 and fishing ending at 2 p.m. The lady angler reception held on Friday, June 7th, 2019 is sponsored by Linda Rike Real Estate, and will serve as the official kick-off to the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament and its 61st Annual Tournament. The most anticipated aspect of the kickoff party is the Best Dressed Contest with fishing teams dressed head-to-toe in vibrant, colorful costumes.

Last year, the tournament produced a record purse of $148,962.50 and made a $25,000 donation to the Carteret Health Care Cancer Center.

MOREHEAD CITY, Carteret County — Excitement is building as the Big Rock board of directors prepare for its 61st Annual tournament beginning June 7-15, 2019. The event features world-renowned Jarrett Bay Boatworks as its major sponsor in addition to its 62 other industry leading supporters.

“This is going to be a great tournament”, commented local captain and Big Rock President, Dale Britt. “With the new dolphin WTA level increase, participants are not gonna want to miss this one.”

In the fall of 2018, the Big Rock board decided to raise the entry level on the dolphin winner-take-all level to $2500. This increase for the largest dolphin landed should net the winner a whopping check of nearly $300,000 based on last year’s entries.

In 2018, Big Rock celebrated another record purse of $2,560,925 as top boat “Honey Hush” took home $753,875. This purse shattered all previous tournament payouts. All this, combined with spectacular fishing last year, will set the stage for the 2019 event.

Liquid Video showcases “Big Rock TV”, hosted by Rick Cowell every afternoon from 4:00 until 7:00 pm. This broadcast will showcase the daily weigh-ins, Big Rock Sponsors, and features daily giveaways on site. This year, Otterbox coolers has donated 26 hard coolers that will be given to those attending the weigh-ins all week.

The Big Rock, Big Hero program continues for its second year with the tournament and participants hosting eight deserving active duty military members. BRBH program sponsor, Salt Life, stepped up this year to make it memorable for these heroes. These nominated winners will each receive a fantastic day of world-class tournament fishing and be treated with special prize packages from Big Rock sponsors.

“We can’t wait to get this party started!”, commented Crystal Hesmer, tournament director. “Our upgrades will make this a tournament to remember and a week of fun for everyone involved”.

The Big Rock KWLA tournament will kick-off on Friday, June 7th with its one-day fishing tournament held on Saturday June 8th. This tournament celebrated a record boat total of 161 boats in 2018 and donated $25,000 to the local Carteret Health Care Cancer Center.

The Big Rock tournament will get underway Saturday evening June 8th with fishing beginning Monday June 10th through Saturday June 15th. A field of 183 boats entered in 2018 donating over $400,000 to local charities, schools and worthy organizations.

May 27, 2019
Morehead City, NC

This weekend the Swansboro Rotary Bluewater Tournament celebrated its 39th year and saw two big blue marlin brought to Big Rock scales during the three-day event.

The first was a whopping 639.2 lb. blue brought in Saturday on “The General” captained by Wade Fickling for a winning purse of $125,950. The second blue marlin weighed on Sunday was a 445 lb. blue on the 1998 Big Rock winning boat, “Waste Knot”.

“The Swansboro Bluewater tournament is always a “first look” for Big Rock boats that participate in the North Carolina Governor’s Cup events”, commented Crystal Hesmer, Executive Director. “It always gets everyone excited about the Big Rock tournament coming up”.

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament and the Big Rock Keli Wagner Lady Angler Tournament will begin on June 7, 2019 and run through June 15, 2019. These much-anticipated events will feature seven fun-filled days of fishing and excitement at the scales. If you can’t be in Morehead City, the tournaments feature live audio and video showcasing the competition each fishing day.

For more information contact: The Big Rock office, 252-247-3575.

Check out our 61st Annual tournament program until you can get your hands on one! Read here

A released billfish will be awarded 125 points. If the team provides indisputable video or photo evidence that the released billfish is a blue marlin, the team will be awarded 400 points.

This is the same rule that the Big Rock Tournament adopted in 2017 for blue marlin verification.

RULE 12. RELEASE POINTS: A cash prize will be awarded to the boat that scores the most number of points first.

125 Release Points will be awarded:

1. For all billfish including blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, hatchet marlin and spearfish and
2. When mate touches the leader before the fish is released and
3. Team turns in a release form provided by the Tournament Committee attested to by signature of the captain and mate or angler on board the boat at the time of the release. This form may be submitted to the OFFICIAL WEIGH MASTER AT TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTERS or submitted electronically.

Release forms must be turned in no later than 10:00 p.m. on Saturday to qualify. Other than blue marlin, billfish forms may also be photographed and emailed to forms@thebigrock.com. If you do not receive an email confirmation, please call tournament headquarters to confirm. In the event of ties, the first boat to achieve the winning totals shall be declared the winners.

400 Release Points will be awarded:

1. Blue Marlin if the team provides indisputable video or photo evidence to the Rules Committee. To qualify for the 400 points, teams must turn in a Release Form in person along with the SD Card, Micro SD Card or Compact Flash Card from their camera. Forms and Media Cards can be turned in at the Official Weigh Station in Morehead City. The Media Card and Release Form must be turned in no later than 10:00 p.m. on Saturday to qualify. The Media Card must show continuous video or a clear single photo of the mate touching the leader and clear and indisputable evidence responsibility of the participants to ensure that their camera’s Clock/Date is set accurately to reflect the time and date of the Releases to qualify for the 400 points. All videos will become property of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. If the rules committee is unable to see indisputable evidence that the fish is a blue marlin, the release will be scored at 125 points. The tournament will NOT allow photos or video from cell phones. Date and time stamp must be 100% accurate.

KWLA Tournament Rules & Registration

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is excited to announce the return of the Big Rock, Big Hero experience.

“Big Rock, Big Hero was a dream come true last year. Our board members have decided to make the experience a tournament tradition to share our accomplishments with those that protect our homeland so that we have the freedom to fish,” explains tournament Director Crystal Hesmer.

Active duty military stationed in North Carolina are welcome to register to be part of the program. Service members will be selected based on boat availability during tournament week. Our goal is to provide the attendees a fishing experience of a lifetime. They will be hosted by some of the best anglers in the country, on exquisite boats with high tech fishing equipment.

This year, the second annual Big Rock, Big Hero is proudly sponsored by Salt Life. Big Rock, Big Hero attendees will be decked out in Salt Life apparel and featured at the weigh station. “We were happy to combine our efforts into Big Rock, Big Hero for the 2019 tournament”, commented Jeff Stillwell, Salt Life President. “The tournament has built a strong relationship with the military and we are pleased to provide funding to take it to the next level”, he continued.

Service members interested in the program can register via our website and social media platforms. Find the Big Rock, Big Hero thread and follow the instructions. Community members are also encouraged to nominate a service member. Finalists will be notified mid-May.

We are hoping to engage active duty military stationed at MCAS Cherry Point, MCAS New River, Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, Fort Macon Coast Guard Station and Fort Bragg. Service members chosen for the program must be able to provide their own transportation to and from the tournament.

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is the largest tournament of its kind in the United States. Our mission is conservation, innovation, and charitable giving. To date, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament has donated over $5 million dollars to charity and worthy organizations.

For more information on Big Rock, Big Hero, contact Executive Director Crystal Hesmer at 252-241-1515.

The Big Rock board of directors have increased the Dolphin “winner take all” level to $2500 for the upcoming 61^st Annual tournament.  Based on last year’s Level VI entries at 172 participants, the purse would round out at $365,500 for the winning dolphin!

“This definitely increases the excitement for this level”, commented Crystal Hesmer, Tournament Director. “We can’t wait to see that winning fish!”.

Last years winner, Goombay with Captain Brian Peele and angler Jeff Ross, weighed the winning dolphin on Thursday of Big Rock week taking home $146,200. Their fish totaled 71.1 pounds.

Big Rock board also increased the Level II to $2500 which makes an “all-in” entry an even $25,000.

The 61^st Annual event is slated for June 7-15, 2019

@fishhuntphoto

Morehead City, NC —The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament are synonymous with the Crystal Coast community bringing huge impacts to the area, but this time when the two event producing power houses joined forces the impact is going to hundreds of individual families directly!
After the 32nd Annual North Carolina Seafood Festival was cancelled, the North Carolina Seafood Festival Board of Directors felt they needed to do something to help their community after the devastation of Florence. They knew that trying to pull some semblance of the award winning North Carolina Seafood Festival would be too much stress for the people, businesses and the general well-being of the entire area. Even though many of the board members themselves were suffering personal displacement and loss off property, they were relentless in their efforts to make an event to benefit their beloved home. But it costs money to put on an event and that is when Chairperson Ed Stack made a connection with the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament to join forces with the North Carolina Seafood Festival to create an event that would give back and support the tremendous needs of the people in this area.
On November 3rd, the North Carolina Seafood Festival teamed up with the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament as the Co-sponsor and produced a new event as their way of outreach to help their community that was in desperate need of assistance beyond the initial impact of hurricane Florence.
“We knew that the needs of the community would be different as weeks went by, so we did some research” stated Ed Stack. “That is when we found out that people would need money; money to help with bills, food and basic necessities.” After feeling what it is like to be without power for a week or more, the board decided to donate the funds raised to Salvation Army who has a program in place to vet families in need to assist with payment of utility bills amongst other basic human comforts.
After the Amped Up for You-tilities event, the funds were configured and allowed for a donation totaling fifty thousand dollars to the area Salvation Army. Both The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament are proud to present a check for $50,000 to the local division of the Salvation Army to answer the needs of their beloved community of Carteret County.
The North Carolina Seafood Festival is a not-for-profit organization in Carteret County whose vision is to promote the positive social and economic impact of the seafood industry. To learn more about the North Carolina Seafood Festival and stay updated on the 2019 festival, visit www.ncseafoodfestival.org.

Pictured in photo: Board Members of The North Carolina Seafood Festival and The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament gather for a moment of “Cheer-ing” with the delivery of $50,000 from Amped Up for YOU-Tilities that will be used to help those in need in the area with their utility bills through the Salvation Army
Back Row: L-R// Ari Meltzer, Jim Bailey, Howard Basnight, Thomas Bennett, Kirby Sloan, Casey Wagoner, Warren Benton. Front Row: L-R// Mitch Gay, Crystal Hessmer, Dale Britt, Ed Stack, Mayor Jerry Jones, Major Dewey Alderson, Stephanie McIntyre, Sarah Garner, Caroline Petrilli, and Emery Ivey.
Photo by Jody Merritt photography