Just a few days ago, this was the site at the weigh station...
Wow, what fun we had!!

Another great weather week, unprecedented re-entries, and a finish that couldn't be scripted any better with two North Carolina captain's battling it out.

The 51st Annual Big Rock was a wonderful success thanks to the multitude of committed staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make each facet of the event the best it could be.

A special "shout out" to Randy Ramsey who arrived each morning with Tiffany at 6:00 am. Tiff offered to open the office for me and Randy of course, didn't want to be without her! Once the office was opened, Randy escorted Omie Tillet in at 7:00 for the morning prayer. My office was full all week with people wanting to listen to Randy and have a moment of his time. He is a very special man, a successful businessman and a committed Big Rock board member.

Mike Thompson also spent his entire week handling the funds and adjusting the purse as needed. This job alone takes a full time person. Thanks Mike!

Media Director, Bruce Paul-, Statistician-Jo Ann Taylor, Office Assistant-Barb Backman, Web/Photographer-Ronnie Boone, Weigh Station-Randy Gregory and George Lott, M/C- Rick Cowell, Streaming Video-Brian Goodwin, Bar-Lynn Ward and Thurmond Beard, and of course Web/Assistant Rowanne Robertson. All of these people and more giving an entire week through exhaustion to make the tournament as perfect as it could be.

Thanks to everyone mentioned and unmentioned for your loyal efforts to the biggest and best billfish tournament in the U.S or anywhere!!

Well....everyday I have thought of some wonderful thing I wanted to write about but of course...with facebook, twitter, and trying to actually run the tournament, I have gotten behind.

On Friday, I had excitement and such joy about the ladies tournament, on Saturday I had such incredible craziness in the office you could not think and on Sunday I had such thankfulness for volunteers, participants, sponsors, police officers, everyone that make up this entire week. Each day I could have written 10 pages on what happened here but, it just didn't work out.

The tournament is going great and we had some nice gamefish today. Releases have been good and I think most boats are excited about the first fish opportunity.

Good luck anglers!!

Artist Steve Goione has done another brilliant job with the 51st Annual Big Rock original. Wow!, are the colors vivid and beautiful!

Steve has been around for a while now, showing (and donating) for many other tournaments too. I'm sure after awhile he wonders how many different ways he can draw a marlin. He seems to find it though, each time and offer something more than you could have hoped for. Goione pieces take weeks to create and finish.

As sort of an unwritten "gentleman's rule", the first place blue marlin winner will usually buy the original art. This is their contribution to charity after being so lucky at the tournament. Last year the art brought in $22,500 for Big Rock charities and hopefully the 51st winner will want this incredible piece just as much.

The fifty-first annual program is out and looks spectacular! Tournament assistant Rowanne Robertson, did another great job laying it out and making last year come alive.

We always breathe a sigh of relief when the program goes to press and I tell everyone that it is really the hardest part of the job!

The Big Rock would like to once again thank all of our sponsors who continued to support the tournament in this difficult economic year. I would especially like to thank Presenting Sponsor, Coble Trench Safety for stepping up this year as well as Linda Rike/Ed Daughety Real Estate for continuing the Diamond level sponsorship. Platinum sponsors this year are Jarrett Bay Boatworks, Consumer's Marine/Overton's, Wachovia, Bailey's Fine Jewelry, Seegars Fence Company, Liquid Video Productions, Crown Royal and MTU/Covington Power Services.

How Many Boats Are You Going To Have?

I heard this question many times today as I delivered programs and banners to area retailers. Of course, we never know what the total is going to be since everyone usually waits until the weekend prior to the tournament to enter. I think on Friday last year prior to the week of fishing, we had 91 boats when the office closed. Forty of those had entered during that week. When it was all said and done, we ended up with 176 boats....... you just never know. In good economies and bad we have usually hovered somewhere around 180 and I don't expect this year to be any different.

If t-shirt sales are any indication, they are flying off the shelves. We are getting tons of calls everyday and slips are full for the week of the tournament with waiting lists. The tournament is certainly spending the same money on great entertainment, food, seabags, etc. and in general, the Big Rock excitement is building around town.

The weather has finally been nice and charters have been bringing back large dolphin while releasing white and blue marlin. Fuel costs are half what they were last year and everyone seems anxious to get out on the water.

All in all, I believe we will have a very good year at Big Rock. I hope that the extra tuna rollover money of $23,000 will encourage smaller boats to come join in the fun and see what they are missing!

-The Keli Wagner Lady Angler (KWLA) shirts and license plates are now available for purchase at the Big Rock office.

We have already received entries for the tournament as well as many "non-fishing" entries. The non-fishing entry, dreamed up by Sarah Strange, is proving to be one of the better ideas to come out of the Big Rock think tank in a while. There are a mulititude of people that would like to participate in this tournament in some way but have not been able to do so because of distance. This is an excellent way to be a part of giving back to this community.

-We ran a local commercial recently about Tiger Runner winning the Release level in 2008. I wonder how many people realize they can win this kind of money just by entering Level I? Information like this get's lost in the hoopla of someone winning $700,000 or more, but what a payout..... for $2500 you can win $92,000! Now that's a deal!

-The marsh outside my window is starting to turn green, so I know Spring is getting close. It is amazing how much the marsh actually changes during the year.

We have recieved our first entries from Triple A and Figment. The media is always surprised when I tell them we have 5 or 6 entries but we always get the bulk of our participant entries on the weekend before fishing. It makes planning somewhat difficult but we manage to do pretty well!

-T-shirts were delivered last week to area retailers and everyone was really excited to have their shirts for Easter weekend. Retailer feedback has been very positive.

There is a light blue that is only sold at the Big Rock office along with a dark pink in a ladies cut shirt. We always have something special here!