because someone didn't buy a $15 fishing license.
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"The lack of a $15 fishing license cost the Citation $912,825, not to mention first place and a spot in the record books in the 52nd annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament.
Ouch? You bet so.
“It hurts,” said angler Andy Thomossan, who caught a record 883-pound blue marlin Monday that he and everyone else bet would win the $1.66 million tournament. “No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it’s a nice ending to the story, isn’t it?”
Not for Thomossan and Co.
The Citation’s victory was initially put on hold Saturday night during the awards banquet and a day later erased by Big Rock officials because a crew member didn’t have a fishing license, said Thomossan, 63, who lives in Richmond, Va.
“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…,” he said, his voice trailing off without completing his thought.
A North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License costs $15 annually for state residents 16 and older or $30 for nonresidents, according to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ website. A 10-day license can also be purchased for $5 for state residents 16 and older or $10 for nonresidents.
Also, fishing boat owners can purchase a block of 10 10-day fishing licenses for $150.
Under tournament rules, “anyone fishing aboard a vessel” in the Big Rock must have a N.C. fishing license, including the captain, the mate and anglers.
The lack of a license by a “for-hire mate” was discovered during a lie detector test Saturday night, said Michael Topp, one of the boat’s three owners. The tournament requires a lie detector test for the top money winners, including the captain, mate and angler as well as “others as deemed necessary.”
“Based on that, it appears that they are going to withhold all the winnings and disallow the catch of the fish,” Topp said. “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.”
Topp declined to identify the crew member, and was nearly as speechless when asked how disappointed he was.
“I do not have the words,” he said.
Topp said he didn’t know if the board of directors had had made an official decision, which is expected today after the board meets.
“We did have a meeting with them today,” he added. “But the fact of the matter it was revealed last night in the lie detector that the for-hire mate … lied to us, concealed actually the fact that he didn’t have a license from both the captain and the owners. Hence, the situation.”
Asked if the situation was unbelievable, he replied:
“There’s lot of people that don’t think that’s the way the committee should have come down. But I don’t know. It doesn’t change how things are, and it’s not going to change how they come out.”
Topp was asked whose responsibility it was to make sure all members of the boat had fishing licenses. While sidestepping the specific question, he said he felt that was where “the tournament kind of crosses the line.”
He said it was the individual’s responsibility to have an individual license.
“That’s where the … line gets gray. Where do you transition from an individual responsibility to a tournament responsibility or a boat responsibility?” he said. “I think the Big Rock committee is doing what they have to do. I understand that. I’m a 30-year-old retired colonel. I know about rules.
“But the guys that did all the right things on the boat, the owners, the captain, we’re the victims here. We’re the victims of ‘administrivia.’”
As a result of Citation being stripped of its victory, the winning boat will now be Carnivore, which is captained by Ed Petrilli of Cape Carteret. Angler John Parks of Jacksonville caught what turned out to be the winner, a 528.3-pound blue marlin on Wednesday.
Also, the Big Rock record now reverts back to the 831-pound blue marlin caught in 2000 by Ron Wallschlager on the Summertime Blues of Kiawah Island, S.C.
On Sunday morning, tournament director Crystal Watters e-mailed a news release to the media that said the Big Rock board of directors had “withheld presentation of blue marlin prize money until an alleged rules violation by the top team has been totally researched and a decision made regarding this alleged violation.”
Watters said Big Rock officials would have further comment today.
“I really have nothing to tell you,” she said. “I won’t know anything until tomorrow until the board meets. The board is going to convene and make some decisions about the issues and then we’ll do a press release.”
Citation captain Eric Holmes didn’t return messages left on his cell phone"