By: Kevin Lee

At the Big Rock Tournament of 2023, the Sensation could’ve won it all when they brought back a beast of a blue marlin, weighing in at 619.4 pounds or about 281 kilograms. Instead of taking the fortune, the officials disqualified the team for bringing back a damaged fish.

“I’ve never really been a money guy, but that paycheck would have been real nice. But you just, you know, we’re not gonna get our plaque on the Big Rock fountain there,” said Greg McCoy, Captain of the Sensation.

It seemed like no fish could put a proper fight against the blue marlin that the Sensation brought back. However, the tournament organizers inspected a bite mark at the rear of the blue marlin.

According to NPR, “Bennett(Tommy Bennett, Big Rock announcer) said after the marlin was held up on the scale, ‘It would appear that this fish has been bitten by a shark.’”

Later, the tournament organizers would disqualify the Sensation and the team, because of the bite marks. No one is 100 percent sure, but the marks might’ve come from a shark or another predator.

According to NPR, “‘If a fish has a chunk taken out of it, whether it be by a boat or another fish or shark or whatever, it’s not going to be fighting to its full potential. So that’s the rationale behind it,’ the IGFA’s Jack Vitek said in 2019.”