Riffraff Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 When $15 Costs You Fishing Infamy, $912,825 By ComcastSports Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:52:31 GMT Chris Young, Comcast Sports Talk about a bad day on the boat. Angler Andy Thomossan had one during last week’s 52nd Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament in North Carolina. Aboard the Citation, Thomossan hooked an 883-pound marlin, a colossal blue good enough for first place, a new tournament record and a grand prize of $912,825. But before the 63-year-old could claim the prize and have his name inked into the record books, his entire crew had to undergo a lie detector test. (Yes, you read that right.) Under Big Rock tournament rules, “anyone fishing aboard a vessel” must have a N.C. fishing license, including the captain, the mate and anglers. And just to be safe, every member of the crew is subject to a lie detector test as soon as the boat docks. Well, it turns out that one of the Citation’s “mates for hire” didn’t have a N.C. fishing license, which costs $15 for state residents 16 or older (or $5 for a 10-day pass for nonresidents), and so the catch was ruled a disqualification. Ouch. Eighty-eight grand shy of a cool million wiped clean for the cost of a few hooks. Naturally, Thomossan was ticked. “It hurts,” said Thomossan. “No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it’s a nice ending to the story, isn’t it? “We didn’t do anything wrong. But one of our people did. He failed to get a fishing license, but we didn’t know it. He told us he had it. He didn’t. So you take a man for his word, you know? I can’t do anything. They made their decision,” Thomossan said, referring to the Big Rock board of directors. “They’re taking it away, everything. The fish is disqualified. We’re disqualified. So that’s the end of it. Yeah, wow. That hurts. To have it done it like that…, to have somebody beat me because they caught (a bigger) fish is not so bad, but…” Michael Topp, one of the Citation’s three owners, wasn’t pleased either. “It’s their tournament, their rules, their judgment. We, of course, feel that the action of the particular individual on an individual license should be dealt with on an individual license basis. “We made the individual go and turn himself in once we found out about it. He’s obviously going to be fined.” Fined, tossed into the ocean, banished from every fishing village on the N.C. coast … losing $900,000-plus for a $15 mistake is plain madness. After the Citation was stripped of its victory, the winning catch – and all that money – went to John Parks of Jacksonville with a 528.3-pound marlin, some 354 pounds less than Thomasson's fish. As for the Big Rock tournament record, it reverts back to the 831-pound blue marlin caught in 2000 by Ron Wallschlager on the Summertime Blues. Talk about a bad day on the boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABearWithFurniture Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 But what a fish!...at least they can't take that away from him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 I'm not a lawyer but it looks like you have to be fishing (“anyone fishing aboard a vessel”). If this guy was just cleaning up puke or passing out beers or something, would he need a fishing license? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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