After a two-day delay, the catches didn’t disappoint the crowd gathered at Baytowne Marina in Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort on June 22 with two big blue marlin hoisted onto the scales, 780.4 pounds and 494.3 pounds
“This is the first time pushing it back two days,” tournament Director Jason Draughn told the crowd as they started to gather on June 22 afternoon.
The 24th annual tournament was set to blast off on June 18, with weigh ins at Baytowne Marina on June 19 and 20. But due to bad weather and rough seas, they pushed it to start on June 20 with weigh in on June 21 and 22.
And it was worth the wait.
Word had started to spread on June 21 that two blue marlin had been boated; however, the boat captains were not sure they could make it back in time to weigh in.
Capt. Landon Bell of the 72-foot Viking Metal Masher of Orange Beach, Alabama, and crew came in Sunday night and iced their fish down to be ready to weigh in on Monday.
The scales opened at 4 p.m. and by 4:20 p.m. they were hoisting the Metal Masher blue marlin onto the scales.
With cellphones out capturing the moment, longtime emcee for the event Scott Rossman called out the weight of 780.4 pounds.
Although it is always a team effort to boat one of those huge fish, 17-year-old Teddy Tinney of Alabama was the angler on the rod.
Tinney said it took about two hours and 30 minutes to boat the fish, which measured 119 inches.
“It never jumped … so we couldn’t get a good read on him,” Tinney said.
“But we leadered him about 20 minutes into the fight,” he said.
“The water was pretty dirty, so we couldn’t get a great look at him, but knew it was a big fish,” he said, noting they were trying to be easy with it.
When they finally got the marlin next to the boat, he said, “She’s the one, 100 percent the one. Get the gaffs.”
Standing at Baytowne with his huge marlin still up on the scales, Tinney said, “It’s a surreal feeling.”
He’s hooked blue marlin in the past, but this is by far the largest.
And it was literally the luck of the draw.
It just happened to be his time in the chair. Tinney said he and his brother usually take turns fighting fish when they get a bite, but this was the first one of the day.
When it was all said and done, the big blue brought in $482,487.84 in prize money.
The second blue marlin to hit the scales was brought in by Quick Time, also of Orange Beach.
Angler Robert Burroughs said it took him about two hours to haul in the 494.3-pound blue marlin. His marlin brought in $190,258.56 in prize money.
In between the two marlin, Justin Waight of the Walk West weighed in a 155.8-pound yellowfin tuna to get on the board.
Nearly an hour later, Mike Morette on the Panhandler came in with a 174.8-pound tuna to change the leaderboard.
The board saw another big change a little after 6 p.m. when the Relentless Pursuit came in with a 179.5-pounder caught by Mike Akiu. His tuna held for first place.
There were 10 tuna weighed in throughout the afternoon.
In the dolphin division, there was a lot of movement on the leaderboard, with 18 fish entered.
The Five Star out of Panama City Beach came in just before 6 p.m. with three dolphin, weighing 26.7, 30.4, and 34.8 to get on the board.
However, they were knocked down on the board by Donald McMahon on the American Made out of Pensacola. McMahon weighed in a 49-pounder that held on the board for first place. American Made took home $35,554 in prize money.
Finishing in second was Jack Murdica on the Never Settle out of Destin with Capt. Stan Blackman. They pulled in a 43.2-pounder and took home $24,694.
Third, the dolphin went to Squid Row, another Destin boat with Capt. Travis Marlin Chunn. Adam Helms reeled in a 41.4-pounder.
Squid Row also took second in the wahoo division with a 46.8-pound pulled in by Buck Gosnay. Squid Row took home $104,078 in prize money.
Destin boats did well in the wahoo division, with Capt. Travis Ream on the Lady Em and his angler Jeff Jackson taking top honors with a 63.8-pounder. Lady Em went home with $64,512 in prize money.
Dixieland Delight, also a Destin boat, came in third in wahoo with a 42.2-pounder caught by Austin Massingill. They took home $7,417.
In the release division, A Work of Art with Capt. Jason Buck at the helm from Orange Beach took top honors with eight blue marlin, one sailfish and one white marlin. They took home $211,655.
Placing second in release was It Just Takes Time with Capt. Myles Colley out of Orange Beach. They released seven blue marlin, one sailfish, and three white marlin. They won $106,892.
Third went to Destin’s Raise ‘Em Up with Capt. Hunter Forbes at the helm. They released four blue, and three white marlin.
(This story was updated to add a video)
This article originally appeared on The Destin Log: Teen lands massive 780-pound marlin at fishing event
Reporting by Tina Harbuck, The Destin Log / The Destin Log
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tina Harbuck, The Destin Log | USA TODAY Network
