Category: News

During its monthly board meeting Thursday, The Big Rock Board of Directors voted unanimously to proceed with the 62nd Annual Big Rock Tournament and the 23rd Annual KWLA Lady Angler Tournament. The tournaments will begin as scheduled with the KWLA Lady Angler Tournament on June 6 and the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament competition June 8 -13. The board of directors has been monitoring the impacts and responses to Covid-19 and feel the tournaments can proceed safely and responsibly with no social events while asking that participants and spectators adhere to social distancing and other health precautions which are now well known to all. With the tournament competition schedule in place, the board is continuing to work on details for the balance of tournament week.

As usual, you can listen to the tournament VHF radio feed featuring Randy Ramsey, watch the weigh-ins on Big Rock TV and follow tournament results at www.thebigrock.com and on the Big Rock App. Online viewing of the tournament will be enhanced through Facebook and there are working plans for a drive-thru dinner on Wednesday night for tournament participants.

The sale of Big Rock apparel helps fund charitable donations which support many worthwhile efforts in Carteret County and Eastern North Carolina. 62nd Annual Big Rock t-shirts remain a popular online purchase item and our retail store should be opening soon.

In these extraordinary circumstances, the Big Rock could not happen without our dedicated staff and volunteers, our many sponsors, and our faithful participants and supporters who make up the Big Rock Family. We look forward to welcoming you to Morehead City safely and responsibly to celebrate the 62nd Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.

We’re in this together.
The Big Rock Tournament Board of Directors

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament Board of Directors is continuing to monitor the impacts Covid-19 is having on this year’s tournament, our community, our sponsors and many friends around the world. We have been meeting regularly discussing options concerning the 62nd annual Big Rock Tournament. While we are saddened by the tragic losses families are experiencing we are likewise heartened by positive news from around the country as the curve seems to be flattening and there is growing talk of the country getting back to work.

We are hopeful that as conditions improve the 62nd Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament will take place as scheduled in June, however please mark your calendars for July 5th – 12th, 2020 as an alternative tournament week. Our concern remains the health and safety of our staff, volunteers and participants and as a result, there will likely be modifications to the social aspects of tournament week. Plans are being considered to provide more online access to the fishing competition and weigh-ins, and of course, shopping at the Big Rock store online is always available. Our regularly scheduled April board meeting has been moved to the end of the month with the hope of a final decision to be made at that time. Like so many of you, we want to celebrate the annual Big Rock Tournament, and we are committed to welcoming you to Morehead City safely and responsibly for a fabulous week of Big Rock fishing.

TO OUR COMMUNITY & BIG ROCK FAMILY,

The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament Board of Directors is concerned about the COVID-19 virus and the effect that it may have on the 2020 tournament including our participants, sponsors, community and charities.  We are meeting regularly to discuss the impacts of the crisis and we are actively working on plans.  Our concern remains the health of our staff and our participants and our commitment is to communicate regularly with our Big Rock family in the coming weeks.

We are encouraged by the resilience of the American spirit and we join you in hoping the epidemic subsides as quickly as it arose and that the fishing will be as great as it was in the 2019 tournament.

Sincerely,
BIG ROCK BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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1. Follow this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/56-2189146
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AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price (not including service charges or shipping) to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million organizations to support.

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To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. You may also want to add a bookmark to smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile.

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Morehead City, N.C. – The Big Rock Keli Wagner Lady Angler Tournament (KWLA) is proud to
announce Truist as the new major sponsor of the twenty-third annual event, to be held on June
5 – June 6, 2020.

In 2019, SunTrust and BB&T combined in a historic merger of equals to create Truist, the sixth
largest U.S. bank holding company. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist is a
purpose-driven company dedicated to building a better future for its clients, teammates and
communities. With 275 years of combined BB&T and SunTrust history, Truist is one of the
nation's largest financial services holding companies and serves approximately 10 million
households with leading market share in many high-growth markets in the country.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Truist as Major Sponsor of the KWLA Tournament!” ,
said Madison Maxwell, KWLA Tournament Director. “We’re incredibly grateful for their support
and together we look forward to building an even bigger and better KWLA Tournament for
2020.”

The KWLA Tournament is a one-day billfish release tournament with lines dropping in at 8 a.m.
on Saturday, June 6th, 2020 and fishing ending at 2 p.m. The lady angler reception held on
Friday, June 5th, 2020 will serve as the official kick-off to the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament
and its 62nd Annual event.

The Big Rock KWLA Tournament is devoted to raising charitable dollars to help improve the
comfort and care of patients receiving treatment at Carteret Health Care’s Cancer Center. To
date, KWLA has donated a total of $374,415.50 towards the improvement of patient comfort
and care.

Last year, the tournament produced a record purse of $177,925 and made a $25,000
donation to the Carteret Health Care Cancer Center.

Students and staff of Morehead City Middle School will start 2020 with a new gym floor thanks to a grant from the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament Charitable Giving Foundation and private donations. The Big Rock joined MCMS on January 9th during a home basketball game to celebrate the completion of their new gym floor & to recognize donors for their contributions to the project.

The total cost of the floor is $90,000. MCMS raised $36,000 through private donations & the Big Rock matched their amount with a $54,000 grant. “We are extremely grateful to the Big Rock as well as all of our private donors for helping our students and community to have a much-needed update to our facility that is safe and comparable to other gyms in our county,” MCMS Principal Adam Olander said Saturday.

The school is also hoping to raise an additional $30,000 for new paint in the gym, updated lighting, new baseline wall mats, a new scorers table and added chairs for more seating. Mr. Olander said the old gym floor was made of a concrete tile substance that had been in place for more than 20 years.

Mr. Olander said the school has included the gym project in previous county capital requests, but it remained unfunded. This inspired him to apply for a Big Rock grant and begin a fundraising effort. He pointed out that the gym “is the centerpiece of the entire school,” and is used daily by students. It’s used for athletic events, band concerts, awards ceremonies and community events.

“We’ve spent the last 3 weeks doing school tours of every school in our county. Without fail, it seems that the Big Rock has had a hand in some kind of project in every school we have visited” explained Clark Jenkins, Carteret County Board of Education Vice Chair. “I personally had no idea how much of an investment The Big Rock has put into our schools and I would like to thank you and your board of directors from the bottom of my heart. What the Big Rock does makes a huge difference for our kids.”

(Information provided by Carteret County News-Times article.)

Happy New Year and welcome to 2020! We are eager to showcase Big Rock Production’s FIRST video & introduce our FIRST female President of the Big Rock Tournament, Joy Bell!

WATCH NOW! Joy Bell has served on the Board of Directors since 1993. She is an avid fisherman, hunter, and winner of the 2017 Keli Wagner Lady Angler Tournament – & her legacy starts TODAY! Stay tuned to learn more about Joy & her BIG plans for 2020!
Video produced by TriWork Studios

Wait, there’s more!  2019 might have been our BEST year yet, and we’re ready to share exclusive interviews, clips, & insight behind ALL the record-breaking moments. Along with our live streaming platform, Big Rock TV, we now bring you Big Rock Productions- a series of videos created to give you an inside look at the past, present, and future of the Big Rock Tournament! 

STAY TUNED for never-before-seen interviews & tournament footage, PLUS watch local charitable projects come full-circle! The series kicks off with our first reel above, featuring the first female Big Rock President. We are looking forward to sharing MORE with you in 2020!

Don’t panic, there’s still two days left for last minute shopping! If you’re local, shop with us this season at Big Rock headquarters. We’re OPEN Monday – Saturday from 10AM to 5PM. Our holiday hours are as follows:

Christmas Eve – OPEN, 10AM to 3PM
Christmas Day – CLOSED
New Years Eve – OPEN, 10AM to 5PM
New Years Day – OPEN, 10AM to 5PM

In need of a last minute… Stocking stuffer? Teacher gift? Secret Santa present?

Have no fear, Big Rock gift cards are HERE! Enjoy a stress-free holiday & grab a Big Rock gift card for ANYONE on your list! Big Rock gift cards are now available for purchase valid on all merchandise, in-store only. To purchase, give us a call at (252) 247-3575 or visit us in-store, today!