BIG ROCK HISTORY
When billfish competitors begin to register for the 66th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, they take their first step toward winning part of the richest blue marlin tournament purse on record. That’s quite a change from the original Big Rock prize: a child’s red wagon filled with silver dollars.
To understand this transition, you need to travel back in time to the spring of 1957. Back then, no one was certain that billfish even existed in the waters off the North Carolina coast. The commercial fishermen who had worked our coastal waters for generations seldom ventured beyond sight of the coastline, and not one of them had ever seen one of these fish.
Sailors on the commercial freighters traveling in and out of the Port of Morehead City insisted they’d seen blue marlin not too far offshore, but most locals dismissed this as “bar talk.” The deckhands didn’t know exactly where they were at the time of the sightings, and blue marlin skeletons never washed up on the beach.
Still… the rumors persisted.
A few wishful thinkers hoped the stories were true. Bob and Mary Simpson, Bill Strickland, Tom Potter, and Dick Parker decided to settle the issue once and for all. Together, they created the Fabulous Fisherman’s Club—a loose-knit organization of Morehead City fishing enthusiasts. The club partnered with several local merchants and announced they would pay a cash prize to the first person who could catch a blue marlin in the waters just 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 worked as intended, encouraging anglers and captains to head further offshore in pursuit of their prize.
Fishermen sighted blue marlin throughout that summer, yet no one was able to land the beautiful, elusive fish. But summer failures gave way to autumn success. On September 14, 1957, Raleigh angler Jimmy Croy, fishing aboard the Mary Z with Captain K.W. “Bill” Olsen, landed a 143-pound blue marlin.
It forever changed the face of Crystal Coast fishing.
SOUND THE SIRENS – Before the fish ever reached shore, Captain Olsen had radioed Bump Styron at the Morehead City Yacht Basin to report the historic catch. Styron, in turn, notified Bob Campbell—WMBL-AM Radio’s “Voice of Fishing”—and he got the word out to the public. Soon, a crowd of about a hundred had gathered at the yacht basin, waiting.
In the meantime, Tony Seamon and his son, Tony Junior, went to First Citizens Bank, where bank president Jim Bob Sanders kept a sealed sack of silver dollars. Tony Junior counted out the prize money and poured the coins into a little red wagon donated just moments before by the manager at Rose’s department store. Then, accompanied by police sirens, car horns, and as much vocal ruckus as could be mustered, the red wagon made its way through the streets of Morehead City to the dock.
Reports on the amount of the first cash prize vary from $250 to $500. Confusion as to the amount of that first prize exists to this day. Since nobody knew what the Big Rock would become, nobody kept accurate records. Prizes now are hitting the million-dollar range.
It was the first celebration of what would become the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, an event that now brings thousands to the waterfront each June.
A picture of that famous first marlin appeared in the September 17, 1957, edition of the Carteret County News-Times. The event merited just three paragraphs on an inside page—no other pictures of the fish are known to exist.
HUMBLE 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 a quart of varnish.
Limitations were few. Generally speaking, a member of the Fabulous Fisherman Club won the Big Rock if they docked the first blue of the season before the 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, the “Fab Fishermen” didn’t even recognize previous efforts. The 1960 event—won by angler Carroll Williams of Petersburg, VA, aboard the Bunny Too, captained by Arthur Lewis of Morehead City—featured a special Pflueger trophy provided by world-renowned taxidermist Al Pflueger of Miami. Pflueger would continue to mount the winning Big Rock fish for the next several years.
The 1963 tournament, and the one that immediately followed, sought to find out who could boat the most blue marlin. The 1963 tournament concluded with 64 blue marlin brought to the scales.
This huge number of blue marlin makes it hard to imagine that only 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 Captain Olsen was giving the boat its first test in ocean waters. He had just finished building it and took Croy as his party that day to show him the warm offshore waters of 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 Fisherman’s 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 Fisherman’s Blue Marlin Tournament” was renamed the “Big Rock” in 1972 because that was 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 a record-breaking 271 boats in 2023.
The Big Rock currently averages 250 boats and nearly 1,600 competitors. Cash prizes have grown by leaps and bounds. In 1974, the winning boat received just $800. Ten years later, the purse nearly reached $70,000. Big Rock fans were thrilled when the 1988 purse topped $90,800. The total purse has averaged $4.53 million over the last five years, with a record-breaking purse of $5.86 million in 2022.
That total is dwarfed by the $10 million the Big Rock Foundation has donated to local charities. Entry fees have changed dramatically as well. A $25 tournament charge was all that was required early on. As late as 1973, inclusion in the tourney cost only $75.
But as the prize money grew, so did entry fees. To enter Level I, Level II, and Level III in the 1993 tournament, anglers needed to pay $2,200 to tournament officials. The entry fee (for all levels) in 2021 was $27,500—exceeding the combined total purses of the first 15 Big Rocks!
FOCUS ON CONSERVATION – 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.
A strong focus on conservation has remained a primary concern for more than a decade. Twenty-four years ago, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament’s Board of Directors raised the minimum weight limit to land a blue marlin from 200 to 400 pounds (200 pounds above regulations set by the federal government in 1998).
Tournament rules adopted in 1997 require Big Rock anglers to release all blue marlin that do not weigh more than 400 pounds or measure at least 110 inches in length. The tournament rewards boats with release points.
Marine biologists from the NC State University Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST) take charge of weighed-in blue marlin for study and research, and take samples of all gamefish.
Proceeds from every Big Rock tournament are donated to support organizations that are dedicated to helping pelagic species flourish. In 2021, Big Rock partnered with the International Gamefish Association (IGFA) to deploy satellite tags on blue marlin off the East Coast for the first time. Lo Que Sea tagged a blue marlin which traveled 5,196 nm. That satellite tag is potentially the longest blue marlin track ever collected by the IGFA and the second-longest track of all time for any billfish species.
LADY ANGLERS – While many people consider blue marlin fishing a “man’s sport,” it is the ladies who have dominated the headlines.
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 2000, when Ron Wallschlager of Kiawah Island, SC, reeled in an 831-pounder. That record was shattered in 2019 when Todd Dickerson of Fenwick Island, DE, weighed in a 914-pound monster on the last day of the 61st annual tournament. To this day, Kathy’s catch remains one of the top three fish to ever hit Big Rock’s scales.
In 2005, Gigi Wagoner of Frederick, 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. Anglers like Keel and Wagoner were the inspiration behind the 1998 creation of a one-day, ladies-only tournament that serves to introduce women to sportfishing.
In 2023, the twenty-sixth annual Keli Wagner Lady Angler (KWLA) Tournament drew a record 266 boats. Nearly 1,600 competitors battled for prize money in gamefish and billfish release divisions. Since its inception, the KWLA event has raised more than $450,000 for charity.
HEREOS ON BOARD – Of course, no one would have the freedom to fish if it weren’t for the brave men and women who serve our country. During the 60th annual tournament, the Big Rock Big Hero program was born. Since its inception, the initiative has placed active-duty service members with world-renowned crews and captains.
In its inaugural year, USMC Col. T.J. “Bucket” Dunne was invited to fish aboard Fender Bender on the last day of the tournament. He released one blue marlin but was quickly told to “sit back down.” After an hour fight, Bucket boated the 514.3-pound fish to take second place in the entire tournament!
PASSING THE TORCH – The Big Rock tournament has long recognized young anglers who compete alongside seasoned deep-sea fishing veterans during the week-long event. The tournament rewards Junior Anglers for top gamefish weighed in and overall release points.
In 2019, Junior Angler Michael Cripe earned the crew of Job Site a whopping $368,250 for his 53.7-pound dolphin!
Promoting sportfishing and marine education throughout the state of North Carolina has remained a top priority for the tournament. So the board of directors voted unanimously to add the Big Rock Kids Billfish Tournament to their schedule for 2021.
The kids’ tournament is the first of its kind, rewarding Junior Anglers an extra 25 points for each billfish released. The primary purpose of the tournament is to raise additional funds for children’s charities.
In 2023, the Big Rock Kids Tournament hosted 73 boats and boasted a $176,225 purse for its 3rd annual event. Within three days of fishing, Junior Anglers released 220 billfish!
CYBER CAST COVERAGE – Big Rock fans have enjoyed outstanding tournament coverage, following the offshore action on the tournament’s website, social media, and the Big Rock app. Competition updates are provided just seconds after a hookup is reported to tournament headquarters. You can even listen to the radio live via the Big Rock website.
Big Rock board member Randy Ramsey mans the radio from the early morning hours ’til the last fish has hit the scales daily. One of the spectators’ favorite traditions is his blessing of the fleet, done every morning, inspired by Captain Omie Tillet.
Weigh-ins and exclusive interviews are captured by Big Rock TV, started in 2008. Big Rock TV has now become an international sensation, with over two million viewers in more than 71 countries in 2021.
INTO THE FUTURE – Who could predict the amazing growth of the Big Rock Tournament? What developments will carry the tourney into the next century? Perhaps the event will span two weeks, as it 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. Only time will tell.
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 64 years ago when Jimmy Croy and Bill Olsen hooked a very special 143-pound fish.
“The Big Rock is an area of hard bottom situated approx. 35 miles southeast of Morehead City. The structure’s location along the continental shelf in 180 to 500 ft. of water is unique since it is generally in the gulf stream current. The Big Rock’s location along with the dramatic upwellings of structure provides an outstanding fishing location.”