For Those Who Put the Steel In

Captain Travis Brown aboard Reel Priority spent much of the opening day of the Hatteras Village Offshore Open staring at sonar marks that simply would not cooperate. The fish were there. Brown knew they were blue marlin. But for hours, nothing committed.

Instead of leaving, Brown trusted the area.

That decision ultimately produced the heaviest blue marlin of the tournament — a 487.4-pound fish worth 500 Captain of the Year points in the East Coast Division.

Trusting the Water

Brown and his crew had been fishing the same general area consistently leading into the tournament after finding a pocket of water that continued holding fish.

“We had caught fish there on previous trips and in tournament fishing you want consistency,” Brown explained. “I was marking fish all morning but just couldn’t raise one.”

Several of the marks appeared deep on sonar, making Brown question whether they were even blue marlin at all. Still, confidence in the conditions kept the crew committed to the zone.

“You’ve got to be patient and grind it out,” Brown said. “I just didn’t think we needed to leave.”

Eventually Brown returned to one specific mark multiple times before finally raising the fish late in the morning.

“She Came In and Ate Everything”

The marlin wasted no time once she appeared in the spread.

“I looked behind me and saw the red hot dog pop up in the wash,” Brown said. “By the time I turned around she was pounding on the teaser.”

What followed was chaos.

The fish attacked nearly every bait and teaser in sight, crashing multiple offerings before finally getting hooked.

“She came in and ate everything,” Brown said. “It went from us hunting her to her hunting us.”

The fish was hooked on a short-rigger setup pulling a green-and-black Moyes Bushmaster lure rigged on 130-pound tackle with 400-pound extra-hard leader.

Once tight, the marlin immediately proved her power.

“It was the first fish all year that took us into the backing,” Brown said.

Teamwork on Deck

We knew right away it was nice fish but the rough conditions made it difficult to judge the marlin’s true size early in the fight, but eventually everyone aboard realized the fish was large enough to justify a boat ride on the opening day of the tournament.

Mates Wes Schwabe and Dave Schulte prepared the cockpit while Brown stayed aggressive from the bridge.

The fish eventually settled into a manageable fight before surfacing boatside.

“Once it came up, there was about one second of hesitation asking ourselves if she was big enough,” Brown said.

Brown credits much of the team’s success to the chemistry aboard Reel Priority. Rather than operating strictly by titles, Brown says the crew functions interchangeably with everyone capable of handling multiple roles.

“My mates can drive the boat, fish the sonar, wire fish — whatever needs to happen,” Brown explained. “We don’t look at it as job titles. We look at it as a team.”

That teamwork showed itself during the final moments of the fight.

“By the time I got off the bridge and down the ladder, the fish was already on deck,” Brown laughed.

A Strong Start to the East Coast Season

The opening-day fish proved enough to secure the tournament’s top blue marlin honors while giving Reel Priority an early jump in the 2026 East Coast Captain of the Year(COTY) standings.

For Brown, however, the bigger takeaway was how the crew worked together under pressure.

“We won this tournament,” Brown said. “Not me. Not one person. All of us.”

The result awards Captain Travis Brown 500 East Coast Division points and places Reel Priority among the early leaders in the 2026 COTY Heavy Hitter race. 

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