Blue Marlin Grand Championship

The Blue Marlin Grand Championship brought in more than 100 catches, but the stars of the show were the blue marlin. Greg Abrams, fishing on the Viking 64 Easy Trigger, reeled in the 2nd Heaviest Blue Marlin of the tournament with a 645.8-pound fish. Less than a pound shy was Cole Play’s Dale Cole and his 3rd Place 645.6-pounder. Cole, fishing on a Viking 58, said, “It was five hours fighting the fish. It was a job!”

Top Release Boat was the Viking 60 Devotion, above. Captain Jason Hallmark put Josh Tice and Nathan Bearden on three blues apiece. Devotion also won the Triple Crown Gulf Coast series with this finish – but more on that next week. Captain Patrick Ivie and the Viking 72 Breathe Easy team claimed 3rd Place Release Boat with five blue marlin.

Marc Padgett, fishing on his Viking 90 Nikki Bella, weighed the Heaviest Tuna, a 203.2-pound yellowfin. Larry Roth hooked the Heaviest Wahoo, 32 pounds, while fishing on the Viking 54 Bella Fortuna.

Jaselyn Berthelot, captain Jimmy “Cricket” Crochet and the Viking 58 Rising Sons won the Gulf Cup Blue Marlin Shootout. Jaselyn fought an eight-hour battle with the 609-pound blue during the winner-take-all tournament. This fish also took 2nd Place in the concurrent World Cup Blue Marlin Championship.

Pachanga, a Viking 62 owned by David Reeves and Michael Reeves, won the South Carolina Blue Marlin Invitational. Captain Blaine Champlin put Michael on the winning blue marlin that weighed 517.9 pounds. But the team had to sweat out nearly three weeks to see if their fish held up during the 39-day tournament – and it did. The boat, based in Ocean City, Maryland, fished out of Charleston, South Carolina.