Chip Temple is the type of Georgia outdoorsman commonly found in these parts. He hunts deer. Does a little bass fishing. Tracks down a few turkeys.
Well, he was that kind of outdoorsman. An eight-hour tussle with a 714.7-pound water monster can change a man. Temple knows, having hooked a mammoth blue marlin last weekend 120 miles off the Sandestin, Fla., shore to win the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic.
Temple, 33 of Stockbridge, sat in the fighting chair on Jasper Time, the 60-foot Hatteras owned by fellow angler Mark Wallace.
And what a fight it was.
They started fishing around daybreak on June 19, a Friday, and at 1:30 p.m. hooked the fish on the 200-pound leader set for tuna — and at least 200 pounds lighter in test strength than a leader for blue marlin. Right away, the crew knew it was in for a delicate and long battle. Temple got help from mates Ed Gobel and Matt Pearson, and captain Tommy Braden.
"There was a little bit of worry," Temple said. "That fish is worth a lot of money and you don't want to mess it up. When I saw her, it crossed my mind, this is the one we came here for."
Temple's most notable catch before this day was a 200-pound tarpon off of Cumberland Island. He'd witnessed an even bigger conquest, though, in 2008 when he and Wallace went out on a leisure cast. Wallace hooked an even larger blue marlin, he said, but released it.
"He kept telling me, 'I'm your good luck charm,' " Wallace said of Temple. "So I said, 'Let's go' [to the competition]. He'd never caught one before, so that meant he listened to what [the mates] were telling him. I probably would've done something stupid."
Because of the light leader, they couldn't put any "heat" on the fish, playing give-and-take all day until the marlin finally wore out. They took eight hours, the crew pulling the record-breaker on board — at last — at 9:30 p.m. It shattered the tournament's 2006 record of 692.6 pounds. After the 12-hour ride back to dock, they could finally bask in the accomplishment. By then, Temple was sore and sunburned, and it didn't matter.
"I'd go again tomorrow," Temple said.
Wallace, former NASCAR part-owner of the 77 car for Jasper Motor Sports, has seen plenty of excitement. But nothing like this. The marlin earned $300,000 for first, second and third places since no one else was successful. They also took third in another category with a 41-pound dolphin fish.
"These boats are owned by people who are really well off," said Wallace, owner of Jasper Engines and Transmissions in Peachtree City. "We're kind of like the underdogs, so it means a lot for us to go down to Florida and win. I can write this off my bucket list."
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