Goldsboro's Seegars reels in 412.7-pound blue marlin

By Rick Scoppe, The Jacksonville Daily News
Published in Sports on June 13, 2014 1:49 PM

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MOREHEAD CITY -- This wasn't Chainlink's first trip to the weigh station at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament.

In 2006, the Goldsboro-based boat won the Big Rock with a 501.5 pounder, with Wes Seegars the winning angler.

Eight years later, Seegar's 37-year-old son, Ben, was the angler as Chainlink brought in a 412.7-pounder Thursday that briefly was in third place.

"It's a good boat," the younger Seegars said.

No doubt about that -- and a boat with some extra history.

Originally, it was named the Salty Fare. Under that name, the 54-foot Jarrett Bay won the 1994 Big Rock with a 649-pounder. One year later, Wes Seegars bought the boat and changed the name to Chainlink.

"We figured that's what paid for it," the elder Seegars said, "might as well call it that."

Seegars is CEO of a family business, Seegars Fence Company, started by his father more than 60 years ago. His son is the company's chief operating officer.

While the angler changed both in 2006 and this year, the captain was the same, Ralph Griffin.

"We won it in 2006 and now we've got this one (412.7-pounder)," the elder Seegars said. "And, of course, we've been fortunate to win several tournaments and placed in several more. So we've had a good run.

"Ralph's done an outstanding job running the boat. It's all just gear and equipment, and you've got to know where to go and what to do. That's the trick."

As his son stood next to the fish, Seegars stayed in the background.

"I caught mine in 2006," he said. "This is all about them."

Seegars wasn't even in Morehead City when Chainlink hooked the big blue. He was in Goldsboro at the office. But once he learned the marlin had been boated, it was time to hit the road.

"We said, 'Well, let's head to Morehead,'" he said. "We jumped on the boat -- I mean the car -- and came down here. We had a bunch of the ladies from our office who wanted to come as well."

Griffin was asked what the difference was between 2006 and 2014. First, he said, in 2006 it took Seegars about seven hours to boat the blue marlin. It took about 20 minutes for Seegars' son to get the big blue to the boat.

"That fish (in 2006) never jumped. It just pulled some string," Griffin recalled. "This fish jumped a whole bunch and wore itself out pretty quick, and we got right on top of it. Plus, the other one was 100 pounds bigger. Unfortunately, this one wasn't 100 pounds bigger. But we're happy with it."

After Chainlink boated its blue marlin around 9:30 a.m., Griffin and Co. initially said they were going to continue to fish instead of bringing the fish to the weigh station, which is a rarity. Usually, boats want to get their blue marlin to the scales ASAP to avoid losing too much weight during the ensuing two- to three-hour ride back in under the hot sun.

But it didn't take long for a change of heart and for the Chainlink to head back to port.

"We just had to kind of regain our composure," angler Ben Seegars said, "(and) think clearly, like, 'What just happened?'"

Griffin said he was torn because they'd only been fishing for 30 minutes and still could try to land another big blue or some game fish before lines were required to be out of the water at 3 p.m.

"But it's a good thing we didn't (stay out there)," he said. "It might have shrunk extra pounds and then we'd been in a hell of a mess."

He was referring to the minimum weight requirement of 400 pounds (or 110 inches) to qualify for the Big Rock. If it doesn't, a boat is assessed a 400-pound penalty.

Seegars was confident the fish would be big enough.

"We felt really good about it when it was out there jumping," he said. "We knew it was a really big, fat fish. It's our last day in the tournament. So it's all or nothing. Go big or go home."