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News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Friday, July 14, 2006

The Day The Big One Did Not Get Away

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - The 23rd Annual Bay Point Billfish Invitational has brought over 30,000 people into the Bay Point Marina.

For that reason, it’s being call “The Party of the Year”, you can’t really argue that.

Seventy-one boats set out into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday night in search for the big prize.  The boat that brings in the biggest blue marlin will be rewarded with $100,000!

But it was the the 2001 Invitational that mesmerized the audience: It was the year the big one did not get away.

Aboard the Lucky 2 vessel, Conrad Hawkins set a Florida record with a monster blue marlin...1,046 lbs.!

“We looked down and knew it was a heavy fish,” Weighmaster Paul Pristas said.  “It was a struggle to get it up there.  When we hoisted it up, dashes ran across the scale.”

At that time, the scales weren’t made to support such giants.

“We got a problem here, the scales are insuffient.”

The scales only measured up to 1,000 lbs.

“We had to figure out how to get a measurement,” Pristas said.  “Then a gentleman came out of the crowd and said he had a scale.”

Paul’s wife, Jean Pristas, accompanied the fist the recycling center across town that had a large enough scale in it’s warehouse.

“They had a big ice truck,” Jean said.  “I guess it was delivering ice, and happened to be in the area to take the fish over.”

The beautiful beast is still on display in Panama City Beach at Captain Anderson’s Waterfront Market.

“The had to bring fish in on an 18-wheeler, it was a site,” Co-Owner of Capt. Anderson’s, Nick Patronis said.  “Where are we going to put this thing!  We’re going to have to down some walls to get it in!”

Hawkins had three replicas of the fish made at Gray’s Taxidermy in south Florida and gave one to the resturant.

“It could probably feed about two-three hundred people,” Patronis said.  “It was eventually fed to a local organization.”

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