• Tara Bozick •
• Originally published July 19, 2008 at 11:09 p.m., updated July 19, 2008 at 11:09 p.m.

PORT O’CONNOR – It took three men to hoist the blue-and-white marbled blue marlin from the Wasabi boat to hang up and weigh.

Thousands of cheering and clapping people crowded in for a closer look at the Fishing Center dock in Port O’Connor during the Poco Bueno fishing tournament weigh-in just after 5 p.m. on Saturday. The Wasabi team from Dover, Del., was the first boat back for the 5 p.m. weigh-in, waiting hours in the Gulf Intracoastal to see if it would beat the No. 1 blue catch from Friday – Double Trouble’s 503 pounder.

Event coordinators wiped the leader board and wrote “518” in pounds as the anglers hugged and the crowd clapped and whistled.

Small communities comprise this crowd, Stetson Roane, a Cuero ISD principal, said.

“They all come in and feed this place,” he said, noticing fellow Gobblers.

Natalie Hansen, a teacher from Blessing, watched the spectacle from a nearby boat. She came out because she marked Poco Bueno on her life’s to-do list. She calls it a “wanna-do.”

“That is a huge fish,” Hansen said, seeing a fresh specimen for the first time. “Who has an office big enough for that?”

The highlight of Poco Bueno? Seeing a blue marlin, said Jesse Gonzales, a process operator in contracting from Victoria. But he comes mostly to spend time with his family, meet new people and barbecue,

He lets passers-by sample his bacon-wrapped shrimp and fajitas to the chagrin of his wife. He brought his neighbor Robert Soto, who had just as much fun watching the people as the fish.

Soto pointed out teenagers watching the weigh-in from the top of a shrimp boat, hanging on the lines like monkeys.

“That’s fascinating,” he said, laughing.

Another fascination is how much money is involved, even just in the boats, Soto said. Rumors abounded about how much the tournament winner took home – anywhere from $700,000 to a million.

Then Soto and Gonzales heard an “oooohh” from the crowd meaning another blue marlin just arrived. They ran out in the wave of people who had also jumped from their umbrella-covered lawn chairs to see how big this one would be – only 399 pounds.

“Now that’s what you got to get right there,” Gonzales said, thanking John Hawes at the Fishing Center for allowing the event which began in 1969.

“That’s what they come for,” Soto replied, chuckling.

Tara Bozick is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6504 or tbozick@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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