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View Full Version : Would You Break the Rules to Claim a $129,000 Purse? Not Molly Palmer.


FishingMOM
08-26-2012, 01:29 AM
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HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii tournament fisher fought a 12-foot, half-ton marlin in the Pacific Ocean for more than four hours before she and her teammates got the monster fish out of the water – but she missed out on the glory and thousands of dollars in prize money.

Molly Palmer, 28, would have needed to reel in the fish by herself in order for it to qualify as a valid catch for the tournament, according to rules set by the International Game Fishing Association.

But her team helped her pull the massive marlin aboard – so all the Kailua-Kona angler got was a fish story.

Palmer told The Associated Press that her team wasn't overly concerned about getting disqualified hauling the fish on deck, because they just wanted to land the big catch.

"I didn't come here to set world records," Palmer said. "I didn't even really come here to win money. I came here to catch fish and that's just what we were there to do."

Palmer's fish weighed in at 1,022.5 pounds, well over the record of 950 pounds for a woman using a 130-pound line, tournament organizer Jody Bright said.

Cheating would have been easy and tempting. The Big Island Invitational Marlin Tournament runs in part on an honor system and Palmer, her captain and crewmates put up roughly $9,000 to enter last week.


"I've had people try to slide things past me for a whole lot less money, for a less important thing than a world record," Bright said.

"We don't have officials on the field like you do in baseball or football or anything like that," he said. "Everybody's playing on the open ocean playing field and since there's nobody there checking to see if you stepped out of bounds or any of that sort of stuff there's a whole lot of opportunity to do things nobody would know of."

Palmer said breaking the rules never crossed her mind.

"The question was only can I land the fish or not," she said.

Officials at the International Game Fishing Association were not immediately available late Wednesday.

Bright said most of the fish caught during the three-day tournament were released, while those that died would be sold at market for seafood and marlin jerky.

Neal Isaacs, the boat's captain, said the team knew the fish was big – but not necessarily that big – when they saw it start jumping to free itself from the line nearly 40 minutes after it was hooked. The battle then became about whether the boat could position itself to give Palmer enough leverage to reel it in, he said.

She didn't want to give up, but the fish stayed in deep waters and eventually died on the line, drifting directly below the ship, Isaacs said.

"We pushed it, but her husband suggested we get out of the chair before she passed out," Isaacs said.

Angling is as much about math and physics as the open-water adventure. Palmer, at 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, needed to get the marlin more than six times her size positioned higher in the water to make it easier for her to reel in her line without attracting sharks or breaking the line or any of the boat's equipment.

But she wasn't looking for any excuses.

"It was a bad decision that stopped me more than my physical limits," she said.

FishingMOM
08-26-2012, 01:32 AM
More of the story


DATELINE: August 18, 2012, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Nothing could tempt Molly Palmer and her team on board the Kona charter boat “Anxious” to break the rules.

Not a World Record. Not even a share of a $129,000.00 purse.


Angler Molly Palmer and her 1,022 lb blue marlin
It was the classic story – the great, massive fish and an epic battle, but with a modern twist. This was a young woman, not an old man – and the marlin on the end of the line would easily be First Place in the 26th Big Island Marlin Tournament. Total purse was $129,690.00.

If it beat 950 pounds, it would also be a World Record.

Fishing off the Kona Coast yesterday, Molly Palmer hooked into a monster blue marlin, got strapped into the fighting harness and went to work. Four hours later, she was actually further away from catching the behemoth than she was when it bit, and she was out of gas. Now, she knew exactly how the Old Man of the Sea felt.

Molly’s problem was not sharks. It was simpler. It is a fundamental fact of the sport, often overlooked in the hyperole – a marlin cannot be caught unless it is at the surface of the ocean. Molly’s fish stayed deep.

Capt. Neil Isaacs tried to maneuver the boat in such a way as to confuse the fish so it would rise to the surface where the crew could try and man handle it into submission. The fish dove deeper. The clock ticked 4 hours.

Molly and the marlin gave out about the same time. It was truly a standoff. Neither could win, yet neither could go any further. Molly had whipped the fish, but the fish had whipped her back. She needed help to get it to the surface, which would disqualify the catch in the tournament. The decision was made to help her land the fish, but the crew all knew that this meant they would win no money. They never even considered cheating.

It took the five male crewmen 2 more hours to land the monster and get it to the dock, where it tipped the scales at 1,022.5 pounds. It was First Place but they did not try to claim it. It was a World Record too. Same choice.

Sad? No way. Full of regret? Hell No! A world record size party ensued. They went back out fishing today.

slivers86
08-26-2012, 01:43 AM
honorable. The only word to describe it.

Takes someone who truely loves sportfishing to do that.

Jack&7
08-26-2012, 11:56 PM
I've had people try to slide things past me for a whole lot less money



I said, "Pardon?"

kidd
08-27-2012, 10:19 AM
Jack & 7 thats cracks me up!
kidd