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If you’ve ever been caught fishing without a license, you know the fine is somewhere around a hundred bucks…give or take.
But can you imagine getting caught fishing without a license…and it cost you a cool million?
Andy Thomossan can.
Thomossan was fishing aboard the boat named Citation – I’m not making this stuff up – during the 52nd Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament on June 14, 2010, when he hooked a whopper – an 883 pound marlin. Fighting against the monster fish off the coast of North Carolina, Thomossan managed to land the marlin, take it to the scales, and set a new record. After posing for pictures, the team began to celebrate their first place million dollar prize.
Just one small problem: it was discovered that one of Thomossan’s partners, Peter Wann, didn’t have a valid fishing license.
That oversight was a direct violation of tournament rules, and after deliberating, officials disqualified the catch, and denied the entire team the winning purse.
Further adding to Wann’s shame, the fisheries division of North Carolina revealed that Wann purchased a license after the fish had been caught. He was hoping to keep his secret…secret.
He failed miserably…and publically.
The team aboard the vessel named Carnivore, who caught the second largest fish, was awarded the grand total of $999,453 for their 528 pound marlin.
Thomossan, who did all the work fighting the beast of the sea lamented his partner’s actions. “No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it’s a nice ending to the story isn’t it? He failed to get a fishing license, but we didn’t know it. He told us he had it. He didn’t. So you take a man at his word, you know?”
Wann didn’t have a $15 fishing license and it cost his team a million bucks. To make matters slightly worse for him, his fine for fishing without a license cost him an additional $160.
That may be the most expensive lapse in integrity Peter Wann ever suffers.
Click here for the online report.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Breaking Rules
Fishing
Integrity
Lose
Lying
Secret
Team
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
