For those that know fishing - you know a grander is the cream of the crop. For everyone else - a grander is a blue marlin over 1,000 pounds.
From the Mold Craft Bragging Board:
On Thursday, August 30, 2007, the custom carolina
sportfishing boat Swordfish set out of Oregon Inlet, NC, on what was to
be a casual day of white marlin fishing amongst friends of the crew.
The crew included Austin Robins, first mate and Jimmy Hillsman, second
mate, along with Clay Estes of Elizabeth City. "The white marlin bite
has been real strong" says boat owner Brant Wise. We released nine fish
during the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament, and some of the other
Oregon Inlet boats have been releasing up to six and seven fish a day."
After a slow day of trolling their patience paid off. Captain Justin
Ringer stated that he saw a huge shadow under the right teaser, "it was
too big to be a fish and (I) thought its too small to be a whale". "The
fish faded off the teaser and went straight for one of our dink baits".
The crew had set out their spread for white marlin and sailfish using
smaller baits and 20 pound tackle, but as always, mate Austin Robins
had the elephant gun, a large 80 Shimano reel with 600 pound wire
leader at his side. Captain Ringer said "elephants eat peanuts too."
As
the party cranked in the smaller baits, mate, Robins, grabbed his pitch
bait and dropped back to the fish. Robins was able to switch the fish
off the teaser and hooked-up. Robins said the fish came up to the bait
all lit-up and quivering, she was hungry. They had no idea at the time
how big the fish was, "we knew she was big, but not having seen
anything so big before we had no idea" Robins said.
Two
of Robins friends, Billy Landes and Steve Daniels, were visiting the
Outer Banks from Gloucester, Virginia. They stopped by the boat the
night before just to see about getting t-shirts, little did they know
they would be invited to go fishing. Landes, who had never been
off-shore fishing before, jumped in the fighting chair and Robins
passed off the Rod. The fight went on for just over 3 hours. "The fish
grey-hounded several times where she came completely out of the water"
Captain Ringer said. "She came up to the boat and rolled up,
unfortunately large fish like this do not live after such a fight, they
spend so much of their energy that they rarely live."
"The
fish was so long that the bill was sticking into the salon of the boat
and the tail was hanging out the tuna door." stated Robins. The fish
measured 186 inches overall and was 143 inches from fork to bottom jaw.
The girth was 74 inches and the fish weighed in at 1,077 pounds.
This is the first grander in over 16 years brought in to Oregon Inlet.
Although
Wise was not on the boat this particular day he stated "no one deserves
this catch more than my crew. I have the utmost respect for Justin and
Austin they take marlin fishing seriously, everyday is a tournament day
to them." "We have put in the time as a team and it paid off for them."
Wise said "this is every off-shore angler's dream, to catch a grander
and I am proud of my boys and happy for Steve."
If you are interested in chartering the Swordfish for a deep sea excursion while on the Outer Banks - you can contact them at 252-441-0216. These guys obviously know what they are doing.
