The crowd gathered at Big Rock Landing in Morehead City, NC as the Hatteras Fever II, captained by Buddy Hooper of Buxton, NC backed into the weigh station. The Hatteras, NC based boat hit the scales with a with a 465.3-pound blue marlin reeled in by angler Taylor Miller of Raleigh, NC. Miller said “the fight took about 30 minutes and was surreal.β
On the first day of the competition the Sensation captained by Dale Britt of Morehead City, and angler Trey Siner, Concord, N.C., grabbed the Big Rockβs inaugural lead Monday with a 423.8-pound blue marlin that Siner fought for 109 minutes.
Since there’s no third-place blue marlin on the leader board, Hatters Fever II is positioned to win $491,297.50 if it holds onto the Big Rock lead for three more days. Sensation would receive $195,702.50 as runner-up from the $1,154,625 purse.