South Carolina teen breaks 60-year record, hauls in mammoth 400-pound fish
E.J. Nettles, a 16-year-old from Charleston, South Carolina, made history last week when he caught a 400-pound blue marlin in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina.
With his catch, Nettles became the first junior angler (defined as anyone younger than 18) to successfully “weigh in” or qualify for the tournament in its 60-year history.
To qualify, the blue marlin must be at least 400 pounds. Nettles’ catch weighed in at 400.4 pounds.
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The tournament ran from June 11 – 16. Nettles caught his fish on June 13 aboard the boat, Rare Breed, captained by Bubba Simmons.
“To do something like this, to bring a fish to the scales during the Big Rock is pretty amazing,” Nettles said, according to Big Rock. “I fished up in Virginia Beach last year but this is pretty special. To put our team on the leaderboard for that much money … that’s exciting.”
His captain, Simmons, was impressed with the teen.
“E.J. is an awesome angler, he won two divisions up in Virginia Beach with us and it’s just an unbelievable feeling to be able to back into here with a fish,” Simmons told Kinston.com.
The marlin was 108 inches long, which led tournament director Bruce Paul, as well as others, to think it would be bigger than 400 pounds.
“Usually one 108 inches long like that will weigh closer to 500 pounds,” Paul told Kinston.
“Talking to the captain, he said E.J. just has a knack for catching fish and they all worked together as a team and him being 16, impressive by him to handle the responsibility and pressure with all the money that is on the line,” Paul added.
“I just don’t even know what to say about catching that fish, just lucky is all I can say,” Nettles told Kinston.
And a whole lot of skill, too.
The boat Honey Hush, captained by Chuck Lindner from Morehead City, won the tournament by catching a 518.5-pound blue marlin. It was caught by Robert Gorrell, reported Big Rock.
JUST IN: Honey Hush (518.5 pounds) wins the 60th Annual @bigrockfishing Tournament.
Seven blues brought to the docks on the final day, but Fender Bender (514.3) is the only one that comes close. pic.twitter.com/7iuVA7UcfU
— Alex Walker (@AlexWalkerTV) June 16, 2018
Honey Hush took home the $753,875 grand prize.
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