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发帖数: 3104 | 1 For this fishing team, $1-million prize is the one that got away
By: Pete Thomas, GrindTV.com
If a person gets caught fishing without a license, in most cases, it results
in a fine of perhaps a few hundred dollars.
For those aboard Citation, however, the infraction represents a setback of
nearly $1 million.
The vessel's anglers had been participating in the 52nd annual Big Rock Blue
Marlin Tournament, June 11-19 off North Carolina. Andy Thomossan landed
what was by far the biggest fish: an 883-pound marlin, a tournament record.
The team on Saturday was declared winner of the prestigious competition, and
there was plenty of celebration.
However, there also was a post-event lie-detector test, after which it was
revealed that one of the hired crew did not possess a valid fishing license,
available in North Carolina for only $15, or $30 for non-residents.
That was a violation of tournament rules and after lengthy deliberation,
according to Evans Kistler of the Carteret County News-Times, tournament
officials late Tuesday disqualified the catch and and denied the Citation
team the winning purse.
End of celebration.
"No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it's a nice ending to the
story isn't it?" Thomossan told the Jacksonville Daily News. "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 at his word, you know?"
That man is Peter Wann. According to the state's fisheries division, he went
out and bought a license after the catch of the monster marlin, bringing
more shame to his team. He'll be fined $35 and ordered to pay court costs
totaling $125.
The new winners are those who fished aboard the vessel Carnivore and caught
the second-largest marlin, weighing 528.3 pounds. They net a grand total of
$999,453.
Michael Topp, one of Citation's owners, figured the tournament board would
not rule in Citation's favor.
"I think the Big Rock committee is doing what they have to do," he said. "I
understand that. I'm a retired colonel. I know about rules." | p*****0
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