By: Evan Lu
More than 270 boats had entered the Big Rock Marlin Tournament, but it seemed that the Sensation had it in the bag. Estimated to weigh nearly 620 pounds, it was 120 pounds over what was needed to be the first boat to catch a marlin over 500 pounds. The fish by itself would be worth 2.7 million, and 739,500 would be added if it was a record breaker. That would mean a grand total of 3.5 million dollars!
As Sensation backed into the dock, the crew buzzed excitedly, knowing that they had won it all. Or so they thought. When the inspectors checked out the Sensation’s catch, they had a small problem with the fish. Officials examined, and eventually disqualified, Sensation’s catch, due to a shark bite near the marlin’s tail.
Captain Greg McCoy declared that, though he wasn’t a “money guy,” the paycheck would’ve been “real nice,” and it was a harsh reality that they wouldn’t get their plaque on the Big Rock fountain. “We worked hard, we felt like what we did was incredible with this fish, we knew we had won the tournament,” he said. “I knew that fish was gonna destroy the other fish on the leaderboard weight-wise, and that’s exactly what it did. We followed all the rules. There was nothing nefarious or cheating or anything like that on our part.”
“We didn’t see a single thing” near the fish, said Sensation’s owner Ashley Bleau.
It seemed simple. “If it’s more than 500 pounds, Sensation is the winner,” said Big Rock announcer Tommy Bennett. However, the bite near the marlin’s tail complicated the contest: the contest rules stated clearly that if the fish was injured before it was brought in, it ‘wouldn’t be fighting to its full potential.’ However, if it was injured after being brought in, it would still count, as the bite wouldn’t affect how hard it was to reel in.
An example of this is when the ship Top Dog reeled in a 914 pound marlin in the 2019 tournament. The fish had suffered ‘exhaust rash,’ because the boat’s engine was running below the marlin’s tail, which was hanging out over the edge and held up by ropes, as it was too large to bring aboard fully. The fish was still announced the win