MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — Morehead City was packed with visitors for the 26th annual Keli Wagner Lady Angler tournament Saturday.
It’s one of the largest all-female sport fishing events in the world, as 266 boats participated, including Top Shelf with a group known as the Ebony Anglers on board.
“The weather was beautiful,” Gia Peebles said. “The camaraderie was great. The water was smooth. The captain and the first mate were awesome. So it was a great time. We just wish we had had a few more bites than we did.”
Out on the water with no land in site, the Ebony Anglers, made up of five women, brave the sea to try to find some fish. Peebles is one of the members, and she says they love their time out there.
“You never know what you're going to encounter that day,” Peebles said. “You never know what you're going to catch. So you really go into it with a blind faith. And sometimes you have good days. Some days aren't so good.”
They know it’s also a lot of hard work that requires grit and focus. Sometimes they reel in a catch, and sometimes they come back empty-handed, but they always have a good time and learn something new.
“It takes a lot of fortitude and a lot of resilience to do what we do,” Peebles said.
This is the third year the Ebony Anglers have participated in the KWLA tournament. While sport fishing is often considered a “man's” sport the KWLA tournament is working to change the narrative.
“We love it,” Peebles said. “We love that we come every year for the cause. KWLA you know, it's even more important to us because Tiana is a breast cancer survivor”
The tournament is named in honor of Keli Wagner, the wife of a Big Rock tournament board member who lost her battle with cancer in 2008. The proceeds from the event are donated to the Carteret Health Care Cancer Center. With Tiana Davis recently battling breast cancer, this cause means more to these ladies than ever.
“When we first started participating in Big Rock, I had no idea that it was going to be something that hit so close to home,” Davis said. “So now seeing the number of people that come out that support a cure, that donate money, the number of people that come out just to cheer us on, it warms my heart. And I can't imagine not participating in it.”
Team members like Bobbiette Glover say when they first started this sport, they never imagined that they would get this hooked.
“It's just a really peaceful time because you're watching the sun come up,” Glover said. “Like literally it was a beautiful sunrise just today. And you really feel at one with nature. … Now, when the sun gets up and the lines hit the water, that's really intense.”
Although the Ebony Anglers didn’t reel anything in Saturday, they’re ready to come back next year stronger than ever.
The KWLA tournament is just the beginning of a week of events that is the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. It is one of the country’s largest and oldest sport fishing tournaments and officially began Monday and goes through Saturday. The fish are weighed in at Big Rock Landing in Morehead City, and thousands of people come to view the gigantic catches each day.
