Artemis' 640-pound catch holds up for Big Rock title

Being on pins and needles doesn't begin to describe the emotional state the crew of the Artemis was in Saturday.

Owner John Darby and his crew from Charleston were in the driver's seat for a $708,400 payday in the 50th Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament being fished out of Morehead City. But they knew their victory wasn't certain with 79 boats, including four former Big Rock champions, still fishing.

Finally, at 2:28 p.m., they were able to pop the champagne and celebrate when Peggy - the last boat still hooked up - reported it had released its blue marlin. Fishing was over for the day, no one was bringing a billfish to the scales and the 640-pound blue marlin caught late Monday by Artemis gave Charleston fishermen their second straight win in the East Coast's most prestigious billfish tournament.

There were 16 billfish releases Saturday, including nine blue marlin. Artemis — named after the Greek goddess of the hunt — had one of the blue marlin releases and another big blue marlin briefly hooked.

"It was bigger than the 640-pound blue marlin we had," Darby said. "It wasn't a long fight, but what worried us was that (a bigger fish) was out there.

"We didn't have a lot of action the rest of the day. We had the champagne ready to pop, but somebody was still hooked up. We waited, and you could have heard a pin drop in the Artemis. When we got word (the last fish was released), we all jumped in the water."

The crew on Monday's 640-pound fish included Darby, Capt. Bucky Copleston (who celebrated his 34th birthday Saturday), angler Darryl Reyna, J.C. Darby, Eric Burn, Robbie Freeman, Jim Bryan and Michael Provow. Several other friends and family members also fished with the crew later in the week.

Of the winning fish, Darby said: "We were in the right place at the right time. We had boats all around us, then all but two went in different directions. We both hooked up."

The other boat fishing next to Artemis on Monday was Melina, which finished second with a 555.5-pound blue marlin. Third went to Lady Lou V with a 553.5-pound blue marlin caught Wednesday. The total purse for this year's Big Rock tournament was $1,854,575, with 176 boats fishing.

This was the second straight year a Charleston boat has prevailed in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament and fourth time in nine years a Charleston boat has finished first. Last year, BakBar, owned by Neal Baker and Billy Barnwell, earned $800,839 for a 613-pound blue marlin. The tournament record is an 831-pound blue marlin caught in 2000 by Summertime Blues, owned by Ron Wallschlager of Kiawah Island.

Darby said there was a mob of well-wishers awaiting them when they returned to the dock Saturday, including lots of friends and family members from Charleston.

Last year was the first full year of fishing for the Artemis, a 50-foot custom express boat built by Sea Island Boatworks of Charleston. The crew ended up winning the 2007 South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series, catching three blue marlin on the final day of the Bohicket Billfish Tournament to surge into first place.

Even that, though, couldn't top the feeling of winning at Big Rock.

"This is the 50th anniversary, and there's so much tradition," Darby said. "The people here in North Carolina, some of them are coming up and wanting their pictures taken with the boat. They've been so generous.

"This is as exciting as winning the Governor's Cup, if not more. The money will be gone, but the trophy will always be there."

Contact Tommy Braswell at braswell@postandcourier.com or 937-5591.