Big Rock Day 1

I'm back in my office with a river of people passing by to see the Big Rock scales next door.  Citation out of Hatteras Village has just weighed a Big Rock all-time record blue marlin at 883 lbs (more than 400 kgs).  Although not a "dead fish kind of guy" myself, it is an incredible experience to witness thousands of people flocking to see this one fish.  It's one of those Catch 22s.  A great fish is dead, but it now lives in the minds of so many people, especially children.  They can see and recognize its grandeur and, for the most part, realize the importance of its preservation.  It's ironic that thousands of fish like this are killed commercially every day around the world to feed our cats, dogs, and chickens, and die in the holds of steel meat factories where they end up as protein bulking agent white flakes to be fed to livestock.  The death of this great fish in the sportfishing context will ensure the protection of others of its species because of the nature of the sportsman's passion.  Congratulations to Citation and the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.  What an excellent use of a great and noble resource.

For me the day was fantastic even with out a hook up.  The Waste Knot is an incredible environment from which to fish.  It's not just the molded teak, fine finishes, and almost 4000 HP.  Jarrett Bay has combined muscle and beauty into a single, organic fishing entity.  We left the dock just after 5:00 AM and two hours later were almost 100 miles out across the Gulf Stream, a river within the ocean, in water as warm and azure blue as the center of the Caribbean.  Big blue marlin fishing is a big risk/big reward kind of deal.  It's stuff you see on t-shirts like "go big or go home" and "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen".  Today we went big into the hottest kitchen you could imagine, a hundred miles from home, in another time zone, in search of a 883 lb+ fish.  We missed, but after the last nine weeks of construction debris and paint, it felt FANTASTIC!  I shot some fun video with the new Canon 1D Mark IV which is blowing my mind and generally got salty and sunburned which was a remedy for my soul.

Although 883 lbs is a tough number to beat we will be at it again tomorrow.