Catching big marlin 'grand'

The first mate of the yacht Mimi believed the approach of August's full moon meant it was time for his crew to land a blue marlin.

"Tomorrow is our chance," Patrick Byrd told his wife on the eve of the final day of the Pirate's Cove Billfish Tournament out of Manteo. "Somebody will see a big fish."

The next day, the Mimi snagged the heaviest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught on the East Coast, a state-record 1,228.5-pounder worth $500,000 in prize money. It was the third largest blue marlin ever recorded from the Atlantic Ocean.

Catching the monster marlin on Aug. 15 required more than Byrd's belief that a full moon in August is good for catching big fish east of Oregon Inlet. There was a little luck (it's not easy to find a 1,000-pound plus marlin) and a lot of experience on the 59-foot yacht.

There was also nearly flawless execution by the crew, an onboard fishing coach and a gritty determination not to let this fish get away.

When Byrd suggested that someone was bound to hook into a large marlin, the crew "kind of smiled and nodded," he said.

They wanted to believe him. The Mimi hadn't brought a fish onboard all week and the only chance of winning the tournament was to haul in a whopper. Mimi would need a blue marlin over 500 pounds to have any chance of finishing in the money.

"We were going to throw the Hail Mary pass -- fish for something big and forget about the rest," said Paul Spencer of Spencer Yachts, who had built the Mimi and was on the boat that day.

Capable crew

If any crew could land the big one, this was it.

As first mate, Byrd, 34, was the fishing captain's eyes and ears on the deck, responsible for baiting hooks and landing fish, and everything in between. He's worked for the some of the best known captains in North Carolina, including Omie Tillet and Bull Tolson.

At the helm of the new yacht that had hit the seas in April was Mike King, 38, who has had his captain's license for 21 years. He grew up in North Carolina but has fished professionally from here to the Dominican Republic.

The boat's owner, Trey Irvine, 56, of Weston, Fla., who reeled in the Marlin, was also no stranger to fighting big fish.

There was reason for Byrd to be optimistic about the lunar cycle. In 2004, he and Tolson had caught a 768-pound blue marlin during a full moon in August. Exactly a year later, during another full moon, a large marlin had straightened the hook out on Byrd and escaped.

The crew started at about 5:45 a.m., returning to the waters they had fished the previous days. They had seen smaller white marlin there earlier in the week, but those fish were too finicky. None had taken the bait.

They looked for a change in conditions: temperature, tide, birds, bait, water color. Anything that might help them land a contender. Nothing had changed.

So King headed for waters known for giant blue marlin and trolled six baits behind the boat on the water's surface.

About 65 miles northeast of Oregon Inlet, a fish grabbed one of the lures, a Blue Breakfast, and danced on the surface.

"As soon as he took his first jump, I knew it was at least 800 pounds," said Irvine, who moved the rod into a fighting chair. "All I was concentrating [on] was not losing the fish."

A fish of that size is rare -- every marlin angler dreams of a "grander," 1,000 pounds or more. The first grander ever caught in the Atlantic was North Carolina's previous state record, a 1,142-pound blue marlin landed by Jack Herrington in 1974.

No rest for weary

Irvine's fish stayed close to the surface for about 40 minutes, then tried to swim for the depths.