Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comMan's failure to renew a simple $30 fishing license cost his bosses and teammates nearly $1 million in North Carolina Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.
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You win some. The fish could have NOT bitten their bait. They didn't lose anything, They just didn't win. They also have a heck of a fish story. With pictures.
WOW! What a fish, and what a fish story! They were held to the rules (good), however I think they will get some compensation for catching the fish (publicity, endorsements, etc.) Sure it might not be $1M, but they'll do ok.
i can see the kid doing commercials for game and fish. not having your license could cost you a million bucks and time in jail. i
He ought to forfeit the fish and fined for fishing without a license.
I doubt they'll ever make that mistake again!
That's the keyword here, "kid". Did he really not think to check his fishing license before going on a fishing trip?
Honorable men my ass! They failed to meet the rule requirements, everyone on the boat had to be licensed. Honorable men would concede they screwed up and not try to appeal it. For those of you that supposedly read the story, the man that caught the fish was licensed!
"Rules are the rules, and you can't break 'em a little bit,"
Too bad this doesn't apply to more important things in this country such as immigration, oil rig safety, campaign contributions, etc. Great fish, but too bad about the prize. If we holler and kick our feet because a lineman flinches a finger during a football game, then there should be no one arguing sticking to the rules about this or for that matter, anything else in our lives that have rules.
Sorry blubal42, read it three times now and can't find where it says Wann didn't catch the fish. The caption under the picture names someone else and it says "He and his four sport fishing teammates.....". It even says "....Alexandria resident Peter Wann pulled with all his strength and the creature emerged from the ocean depths.". Might have been a group effort. Maybe you should learn to read better.....
Hah !
Honor my @ss !
Don't for even a second try to convince me that they are apealing this for their honor, and not the almost $1 million dollars.
And I think something fishy : - O is going on about who it was that actually caught the fish.
Man, those are such magnificent fish and I would love to catch one but I cannot bring myself to have to kill it to record it, there are just things in hunting and fishing that are not worth doing and trophy hunting calls for some objectionable things I myself would not do. So I leave it to others.
Something smells fishy about this story!
ok, first hing is, great catch! just a really good catch.. still, the dude was a part of the team, and everyone knows, if your putting a hook in the water, you need a licence, even on a charter. that's stupid, and i dont even fish and i know that. plust the guy knew he was breaking the rules, as soon as he went to get his lic after the fact. i'd say fine him, he didnt want to waste the $ untill he got something, then ooops?
I do n ot think the KID was fishing, he was a crew member
But the rules were everyone had to have a license. So when will the Lawyers be involved?
If he was far enough out he didn't need a license. Fishing license is a bunch of control freak crap in the first place if you are not fishing in confined area that are stocked by the wild life department. Now if the rules calls for a license then it Ok to kick him out. Wish I had the cash to fish like that. Have been exposed to such luck but 460 pounder off of Kona HI was my largest. A 125lb on one trip and a 230 lb on another off Honolulu is all I can brag about. A 20lb spot tail red drum at Port Arthur, TX is the next size. West of Point La Hatch, LA I bagged 45 spot tail drum that weighed 450 puond for the sack. All the bragging right I can lay claim to. Guess British Petroleum had destroyed all the chances of those days.
"Alexandria resident Peter Wann pulled with all his strength and the creature emerged from the ocean depths."
"Wann's heart sank when he read the rule book. He thought the entire boat was licensed to compete. Turns out, all individuals had to have a valid state fishing license. Even Wann, the hired first mate."
For those who can't comprehend what they read: Wann was hired on as First Mate and was the one who caught the dang fish. He was just too stupid to know you needed a license to fish. The captain should have checked to make sure everyone was fishing legally, it's his job.
As first mate, it was most likely that it was his job to use the gaff and pull the fish (pulled with all his strength) that Thomossan caught, onto the boat. This is not like fishing for bass. You don't just flip the fish into the boat when it weighs over 800 pounds. Someone has to help you to get it out of the water. And it was the bad luck of these guys that they hired an idiot that decided to check out the rules of what he was doing, after he actually did it.
OK Jeremy664722, yes I was wrong and thought it said that someone else caught the fish. It still doesn't change the fact that all the TEAM had to be licensed. And they're all full of BS and dishonorable! Just to catch a fish that big should have been prize enough.
i agree blubal..... that is some fish! just be thankful, the law dont take it... who cares? its a record fish either way, right?
still... rules were made before they enterd the tourny, and someone didnt do their job....read the rules... be it the entire crew, no matter, or even 1 guy. too bad for them tho.
Awesome...That man killer fish is now dead, dead, dead.
do you realize how many tuna those men saved by stopping that monster.
all things gotta eat some time tho....lol
Usually tournament organizers check credentials BEFORE tournaments. Seems kind of foolish to me that they would check afterwords.
Exactly, I think this is a real lame tournament setup!
i agree they probably had no problem taking their entry money. give them their prize!
For all those that have never competed in anything...
All tournaments have a PRE-meeting that goes over the required rules of the tournament. The BIG ROCK has such called the CAPTAIN's MEETING on Saturday night before the tournament begins on Monday. It is the CAPTAIN's responsibility to cover the rules with his team. This allows all members to do whatever is necessary on SUNDAY to become legal participants in the tournament, be it buy a fishing license!!!
This is a tournament based on the honor system. Boats can depart the docks whenever they want but can't drop lines until a certain time, they can fish anywhere within the set boundaries, and they are to report all hookups, releases and catches. All this is done without any judges or referees aboard their fishing vessels.
Shame on the commitee for giving teams so much honor & respect. All they require of the placing teams is a verification process to make sure that no one broke any of the established rules. Breaking a rule is breaking a rule! Enforcing the rules will keep this tournament one of honor!
Great job BIG ROCK MARLIN TOURNAMENT!!!
Oh Man ... that really stinks. They should get the prize.
are you serious? there is only one thing you have to do before going fishing and that is to make sure you have your fishing license on hand. every fisherman knows that. if it were up to me i would fine them for fishing without a license.
and though the story really does not come write out and say it, you can tell they tride to lie about the time the fish was caught. (meaning "after they got there fishing license on line.) that alone is reason for forfit of the prize.
How do you enter a contest like that and not check the rule book? They don't deserve just on sheer stupidity alone...
Rules was made to be broken! Man what a fisherman's tale!
it was the first mate on the boat who didnt have his license ... not the Captain or the fisherman.
For all those that have never competed in anything...
All tournaments have a PRE-meeting that goes over the required rules of the tournament. The BIG ROCK has such called the CAPTAIN's MEETING on Saturday night before the tournament begins on Monday. It is the CAPTAIN's responsibility to cover the rules with his team. This allows all members to do whatever is necessary on SUNDAY to become legal participants in the tournament, be it buy a fishing license!!!
This is a tournament based on the honor system. Boats can depart the docks whenever they want but can't drop lines until a certain time, they can fish anywhere within the set boundaries, and they are to report all hookups, releases and catches. All this is done without any judges or referees aboard their fishing vessels.
Shame on the commitee for giving teams so much honor & respect. All they require of the placing teams is a verification process to make sure that no one broke any of the established rules. Breaking a rule is breaking a rule! Enforcing the rules will keep this tournament one of honor!
Great job BIG ROCK MARLIN TOURNAMENT!!!
Uhhh....So why was the lie-detector test failed? Could it be that the Captain was fishing north of the boundary (cooler water=bigger fish)? There's a reason why this fish obliterated a 52 year record: Because there ain't no fish that size in the tournament's designated fishing area. Also, other boats in the tournament were near the boundary when he called in the "hook up" and they saw no sign of "Citation." If that ain't enough, it's been reported that boats off of Hatteras saw the boat "hand-lining"....also a rules violation. So again, I ask: Why the failed polygraph?
The tournament officials got lucky when the expired license was discovered...it allowed them an "out" and alleviated months of litigation regarding the validity of the polygraph. It also placed the rules violator in the role of "victim" rather than "cheater."
Kudos to the tournament directors....Tisk, tisk to the would-be winners.
It has been released that they did not cheat in any way. It came down to the fact that Peter Wann did not have a valid NC License and tried to circumvent this by buying one after the fish was boated.
By saying, they were cheating by hand-lining and fishing north of the boundries is false. Defamation of their character by saying this warrants libel. Choose your words more carefully
Libel? LOL! You must be joking dude!
Yeah, I can see the libel suit now: "Peter Wann vs. RightasRainAgain". LOL!
I wonder how Mr. Wann's lawyer would serve an anonymous Newsvine poster with the order to appear in court? Maybe he could post it on FaceBook? :)
it is very suspicious that he bought his license that soon after the catch. if he was just a crewman and not involved in the fishing it is an honest mistake. but if he was part of the fishing crew and didnt have a license so he could save thirty bucks i just have to say. whooooops. he knew he didnt have a license before he went out.
Good point. However you'd think if they go to all that trouble with polygraphs wouldn't it be easier to track the boats with GPS and satellites given the state of technology out there.
Jherek, while I agree there is no case, you are quite wrong about being anonymous on the internet. You may be to all of us, but this site logs your IP address. With your IP address, they can find your provider. After that, your provider sees whos IP address it is and you get a knock on the door.
You have very little privacy anymore.
the officials should of checked before the tournament began. again "give them their prize"
Jerek... c'mon, abwilli is probably a GWU pal who happens to need his first "Really big case" when he Graduates. Cheating in any Sport is a way of life, can't be avoiided, and luckily is cought more often than not.
Hmmmmm...how can we blame Obama for this? lol
i think for not enforcing fishing regulations on state waters. for improper implementation of fishing licenses and for water polution from fish regergitation. lol
hahaha. I don't know how, but there has to be a way. Bush got blamed for every kid that scraped his knee while he was president. It's only fair that Obama gets the same treatment.
If the kid scraped his knee while searching for "weapons of mass destruction," then...
i believe he had a license under bush, but he probably let it expire under obama because he thought obama would take care of it for him.
Oh c'mon! You know it's Bush's fault!
Bush's kids didn't scrape their knees...they were scraped and then washed out of an unprotected Hum V. Dumb azz Obama haters.
How to blame Obama?
Well, come to find out, the fish catcher worked for the Obama campaign 2008, and when the Judges spoke badly of him for no license, it was deemed insubordination to the Administration, the judge was called to the White House, "Resigned and apologized for his insensitivty, and was replaced by a judge deemed more friendly to the Admistration."
How's that for ya'?
The first judges determination was therefore deemed invalid, and the prize re-awarded.
Seems pretty basic for working on a fishing boat.
"Do you have a fishing licence?"
Uh....I'll get one...
AB - Perhaps you should read my words more carefully. I said it had been reported that boats saw them hand-lining.
You can make it about Peter Wann if you like, but the Captain couldn't pass the lie-detector. And in that light...he defames himself.
Sorry, I don't have any sympathy for them. The rules stated that everyone needed a fishing license, and they didn't have one. So what's the problem? Their honor has nothing to do with it. If you don't follow the rules, you don't get the prize money, simple as that. Sorry guys. I bet you'll read the rules more thoroughly next year, eh?
I've never been in a fishing tournament (don't fish) it seems to me that whoever is in charge would validate all crews had licenses. It's a shame to lose on a technicality on something like this. I guess this will teach everyone to get your license and read the rules before you launch.
Seems to me the captain would have known the rules before the tournament, and checked all crew members fishing license before they went fishing, with that kind of prize money at stake, he should have known better.
Exactly!
Why did the event promoters wait until after the event to check for liscences? Seems a little backwards.
For all those that have never competed in anything...
All tournaments have a PRE-meeting that goes over the required rules of the tournament. The BIG ROCK has such called the CAPTAIN's MEETING on Saturday night before the tournament begins on Monday. It is the CAPTAIN's responsibility to cover the rules with his team. This allows all members to do whatever is necessary on SUNDAY to become legal participants in the tournament, be it buy a fishing license!!!
This is a tournament based on the honor system. Boats can depart the docks whenever they want but can't drop lines until a certain time, they can fish anywhere within the set boundaries, and they are to report all hookups, releases and catches. All this is done without any judges or referees aboard their fishing vessels.
Shame on the commitee for giving teams so much honor & respect. All they require of the placing teams is a verification process to make sure that no one broke any of the established rules. Breaking a rule is breaking a rule! Enforcing the rules will keep this tournament one of honor!
Great job BIG ROCK MARLIN TOURNAMENT!!!
I fish tournaments, but never tournments where a fish has to lose it's life for the sake of a photo-graph. I guess in these type of tournments the crew isn't smart enough to measure the length and girth to determine the weight of the fish. I'm still trying to figure out who actually caught the fish. The man with the expired license talks about how hard he fought the fish, then a picture of this other guy saying he caught the fish. I guess everybody had a hand in landing the fish, and that's the reason everybody has to have a valid fishing license.
What a waste of a story. A guy is fishing without a license and catches a giant fish that is getting rarer everyday. Now, the fish is dead and the guy is a poacher...some news
Too bad the fish had to die for this moron! What a waste of a life that has avoided being caught all these years. Poor fish.
i caught a derby winning halibut last year that could have taken the prize money. the large halibut are usualy female and can lay millions of eggs. every one always wants to keep the big ones so the number of spawning age fish goes down. i pulled it up and admired it for a second or two then reached down and unhooked the beautiful girl. she was over 380 pound judging by the length. i did not buy a derby ticket and did not buy one for that very reason. somtimes the resource is more valuable then the prize.
thank you for considering the true value of a fish!!! people like you set a fantastic example for others.
And if B.O. or Joe Biden-Biden had landed this fish under the same circumstances, do you think the final outcome might have been different? Are you sure it's the fish that stinks?
Not sure, but if Bush and Chaney had caught it, it would have been twice as big (at least the story) and riddled with buckshot
nah bush and cheney would have thrown it back and claimed they were looking for deer in the middle of the ocean.
for being fishermen these guys should have known better. they deserve what they got. ps, fish and game needs to fine them for fishing without a license!!!
When you get the rules for ANYTHING. Follow the first line which states.,. Read all instructions before you begin. Would you not think about every detail of any event before, during, and after. I do. For a million or $50.00 you do. What a great FISH STORY.
fish story? you want a true fish story?? ok, i was over fishing off maui in hawwii and was out after marlin.
the deck hand whos name was dan and i struck up a conversation. he told me they had just got back from a derby and had won second prize. that got us on the topic of big fish....i asked whats the biggest fish he had seen?
this is what he told me. there had been a boat that hooked up on a large marlin...they fought it for hours and hours till every one on the boat was exasted. they radioed in and asked for assistance from another boat. the boat that responded was a 6 pack of foot ball players. they came on board and fought the fish for the rest of the day and into the night. the next day at about 4 in the afternoon they finaly got the fish up where they could see it. they estimated its weight at well over 1600 pounds!! they had it up behind the boat and were looking down at it trying to figure out what to do when the thing started moving in jerky motions back and forth and its fins started to qwiver... to there astonishment the thing took off on a line pealing run 150 feet to one side of the boat and the water started to boil. blood and fish parts started flying up out of the water as the mighty fish went over and anialated a school of 50 pound tuna!!!! ate its fill then proceeded to spool the real and break the lines and hearts of the fishermen. they had not even tired the beast. it had just been curious what had been tugging on its top lip i guess. now "that" is a fish story!!! by the way, I claimed B$#%@ on dan. he smiled....walked into the cabin of the boat and came back with a photo book and opened it. there behind the boat was what looked like a nuclear submarine with eyes and fins!!! that had gotten a picture of it! dont believe me you can go see it yourself. the boat was the nokoe oye.
Great Fish Yarn.
Some wrong info in here , Wann was not the angler , Andy Thomasson was , Wann was a hired ship mate to help with running the boat.
Bonzo,
Everyone in the boat has to have a license. The mates set the lines, bait the hooks, sometimes set the hook. Then the "Sport" takes over based on whose turn it is to be in the "Chair", when he tires the next in line takes over so on down the line. That is the reason why all need a licence, all take part in the landing of the fish. The Captain usually keeps the fish and gets the proceeds from the sale. The prize money is either split by the "Sports" or it goes to whoever is first in the chair.
Oh, come on! You didn't know if your license expired?! Don't be surprised if your friends are mad at you for a long time, if not for life. I thought you manly studs knew all the rules of fishing and tournies! You are a candidate for moron of the year!
In his defense, though, he was a hired deck hand, NOT a fisherman. Would a cop pull over a car because someone in the passenger seat does not have a drivers license? Would you expect your flight attendants to have pilot licenses?
Granted, they should have read the rules, but it's not as much of a breach of common sense as everyone makes it out to be.
I agree!
You're dead wrong. The rules are the same for the Gulf coast waters... license for everyone on the boat.
Next time he should just jump overboard and swim to shore.
How the heck was the Marlin supposed to know the angler had an expire fishing tag? Something's fishy here.
Brings back thoughts of "The Old Man and The Sea." You ponder all that fish encountered in the ocean and managed to survive only to be the victim of some sport fishermen trying to win a prize. You would think it had earned a little more dignified end than that.
I wholeheartedly agree. What a magnificent creature to die at the hands of an another incompetent "sportsman" too bad. What a waste of a magnificent animal. when will humans learn to respect the co-inhabitors of our earth and stop their wasteful and disrespectful destruction. "trophy hunting" ? Bah!
Everyone who fishes at that level, especially boat owners and hired crew know that state fishing licenses are required. Most tournaments even remind people upon registration. The hired first mate and captain cheated and lied. The boat owners should have checked for valid licenses at the beginning of the tournament. They deserved to lose the cash.