Hope Mission is a recipient of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament and we offer our gratitude to all responsible for this event. Below is brief history taken from their web site www.thebigrock.com

Early Big Rock events could hardly be considered tournaments. There were few rules and the competition was restricted to the members of the Fabulous Fishermen Club. Some of the early prizes resembled booty from a scavenger hunt. A 1965 newspaper article that detailed the winner’s prizes listed one quart of varnish.

But these humble beginnings gave way to a huge growth in prize money that no one could have predicted. In ’74, the winning boat received just $800. Ten years later, the purse reached $70,000. Twelve years after that, the purse reached $743,000. For the last 13 years, the competition has topped $1 million and continues to grow with increased sponsorship and participation levels.

Throughout it all, the Big Rock’s biggest asset has been the collective leadership of the Big Rock board of directors. The men and women who serve on the board act as stewards of the tournament. They have been instrumental to its rise in prosperity and popularity. They established and tweaked the rules every year to make sure the competition is fair to every entrant. They have led the way in the establishment of conservation standards that other tournaments chose to model.

The Big Rock board made it a part of its charter to give back to the local community. It established a foundation that supports a multitude of charities. These charities, to date, have received $2,333,158.

Early on, the competition consisted of a handful of charter boat captains hoping to win a few dollars and the bragging rights that came with a Big Rock victory. Nowadays, hundreds of anglers participate, representing the best marlin fishermen in the world. Each one hopes to win the Big Rock – the “Super Bowl” of fishing.

And there are dozens of ways to win.

In 2003, J.F. and Jim Pedersen, a father-and-son team from Hollywood, S.C., captured the 45th Big Rock the day before Father’s Day. It was a timely moment for both and it gave the competition a Hollywood ending.

In 2004, Donald Lane of Atlantic Beach was captaining his own boat, Impulse, for the first time. He picked up a Big Rock victory and the $711,375 first prize, staking the young captain to many other billfish competitions.

In 2006, Goldsboro angler Wes Seegars fenced off the rest of the competition aboard Chainlink. He caught the last and biggest blue marlin of the 48th event, battling his blue marlin for seven hours aboard a vessel that had won the Big Rock before in ’94 when the boat was named the Salty Fare.

In 2008, the Artemis crew suffered through 46 minutes of “Big Rock overtime” before the final catch of the competition was set free. Unlike Figment, Artemis managed to hold on to an early tournament lead and walk away with $703,512.
 
When the Big Rock celebrated its golden anniversary, it served as wonderful starting point for the events that followed. When competitors head offshore again this year, they’ll try to strike gold just as competitors have in the past.

Hopefully this year will be one of true perfection. The competition was near perfect in 2010 and sets the stage for super competition in 2011.