Page 19 - 52nd Annual White Marlin Open

time the fish came to the boat, the crew
changed their game plan, but one thing
didn’t change. Phil Key’s determination to
land that marlin. It was a battle of strength
and a battle of wills. On the 18 approach,
th
6 hours after the fish was first hooked, it
swam close enough to the boat that the
crew was able to get two gaffs in him.

“On a scale of 1-10”, says Key, “that fish
was still at a 7. It was still green when we
landed it”.

“That battle was the time of my life” relates
Key. “There was zero percent chance of
me giving up on that fish.”

So the hard part was done but now came
the challenge of getting a nearly 900 pound
fish onto the boat.

“The tail was too big to take it through the
transom door tail first so we had to do it
head first”, said Moore. “By this time the
fish was dead weight so we were only able
to pull it through a few inches at a time.
Doing this in 5’ swells with a bent gaff that
we couldn’t get out of the fish made it that
much tougher.”

After an hour, they were finally able to get
most of the fish in the boat with the tail still
sticking out of the door. Once the 7 hour
ordeal was finally complete, the emotions
ran high. “My wife started crying, the mate
started crying,it was a surreal moment. Af-
ter that, we all had a drink before we head-
ed in!” said Moore.

Word travels fast in the fishing world when
a large blue is onboard. Although Moore
Bills was not able to get back to the weigh
station until nearly 10 p.m., a crowd of
thousands had gathered to see the monster
fish. “People were cheering and screaming
and yelling”, said Moore. “My wife said it
felt like a rock concert!”

The fish weighed in at 894, one of the larg-
est ever weighed in the WMO but still 3.5

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