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As 21-year-old Carson Paluscsak looked down at the 500-plus pound blue marlin slowly paddling behind Double 07, he battled a sudden wave of conflicting feelings. The young mate, who then worked full-time for Capt. Bobby Krivohlavek aboard his Charleston-based charter boat DayMaker, had just spent the last hour steering the fighting chair aboard Double 07 and coaching the angler through the exciting fight with the tournament-contending kill fish. In doing so, Paluscsak had directly assisted the competition. As he quickly sunk a gaff into the boatside blue, he thought to himself, “Bobby’s going to kill me.”
Before last year’s bluewater fishing season off Charleston, South Carolina, Paluscsak had never seen a blue marlin boated. He’d soon get a fire hose introduction while fishing the South Carolina Blue Marlin Invitational, a tournament with a unique format allowing participants to select three fishing days from May 1 to June 8. DayMaker signed up to compete in the 39-day-long event thanks to a group of repeat clients. With Capt. Bobby at the helm and Paluscsak and Michael Krivohlavek in the cockpit, the 58’ B&B fished its second day of the tournament on May 22.
Pipe Down had already weighed a 507.4 pounder a few days before. Although 500-plus pound fish aren’t uncommon in South Carolina’s waters, it is relatively rare to see multiple fish of that size landed in a single year. DayMaker would need to find the right one to not only get on the board, but to also surpass the current leader. Fortunately, the right fish showed up.
“Bobby marked the fish on the sonar and did one pass over, but it never came up,” Paluscsak recalls. “We circled around again and it came up on the left teaser, then faded to the left short and ate. When it started jumping, Michael and I looked at each other and said, “That’s a nice fish!”
Angler Joe Gorin cranked on the reel and the fish dove down into the depths, sounding for the rest of the fight. Since all signs indicated that the fish had likely died, Gorin pushed the drag up and palmed the reel to plane the fish upward. Eventually, the blue marlin surfaced dead. Once it was safely on the deck of the DayMaker, roughly an hour and forty minutes after the initial hookup, the crew erupted in cheers and laughter. “Bobby’s only reaction was to say, ‘That’s a nicer fish than I thought,’” Paluscsak recalls with a warm laugh.
Bobby and Paluscsak know each other well after their two years working together through DayMaker’s demanding fishing schedule, especially in the spring and summer months. So Paluscsak wasn’t at all surprised by Bobby’s calm demeanor, even with a potential tournament winner on the deck. “Bobby doesn’t really get excited about much,” he says. “He whispers everything, even when we’re fishing. He knows the waters in South Carolina better than just about anyone and he’s built a very intense but fun charter program. There’s not another one like it around. I got more experience working for Bobby in one season than I could have gotten with many other programs.”
When DayMaker finally arrived at Toler’s Cove Marina, a journey made more arduous by rudder trouble, an eager crowd had already gathered at the scale. The blue marlin weighed in at 533.6 pounds, easily sliding into first place. “That fish was a dream come true,” Paluscsak recalls.
Many competing crews offered their congratulations at the scale, including Paluscsak’s close friends, Capt. Dylan Barley and Christopher Corgill of Double 07. They offered for Paluscsak to ride along with them the next day to fish the tournament. None of Double 07’s crewmembers had ever boated a blue before, and they would welcome another set of hands, especially a pair that might have some luck to share.
“I checked with Bobby and Michael to make sure it was okay,” Paluscsak says. “Since we were scheduled to go to the boatyard to check out that rudder problem, Bobby and Michael gave me the go ahead, but not without joking first that if Double 07 hooked one that was bigger, that I would have to cut the line!”
Fifteen minutes after lines in the next day, Paluscsak received a text from Michael. “Ya’ll get one yet?” That message set the fates in motion. Just fifteen minutes later, Paluscsak responded, “We’ve got a nice one on.” A blue marlin had just eaten the left short and immediately launched into a series of revealing jumps. “I looked at Christopher and said, ‘Get the gaffs,’” says Paluscsak.
Since he had just experienced his first boated fish, a situation that had been directed by the Krivohlaveks—two men with considerable end game experience—Paluscsak used the tips and lessons he’d learned the day before to help direct next steps in the cockpit. When he finally helped his friends heave the fish into the cockpit, the wide-eyed mate feared it might indeed be heavier than the DayMaker’s leading blue. “Everyone was going crazy, screaming and shouting,” Paluscsak says. “I wasn’t sure if I should be happy, mad or nervous.”
Double 07 then picked up and ran for the scales with hopes for a shot at first or second place in the tournament. It was then that Paluscsak realized what he had experienced in under 24 hours. “On the ride home, the whole thing really set in,” he says. Texts from friends started rolling in. “Everyone kept asking me how bad it hurt shoving that golden horseshoe up my ass,” Paluscsak laughs.
Double 07’s fish weighed in at 506.9-pounds, a mere 0.5 ounces short of second place, but well below DayMaker’s lead. Although he was sad that his friends didn’t make it into the money, Paluscsak’s fears subsided. He and DayMaker would go on to win the tournament and $252,560.
Bobby, in his quiet way, seemed happy for his mate from the start. It would take a few days before Michael was ready to shed what had once felt like a close call. Eventually the two friends were able to share a laugh over Paluscsak’s back-to-back 500-plus-pound boated blues, a feat no known others have achieved in the Palmetto State.
With the 2025 blue marlin season now underway, it will be exciting to see if that lucky horseshoe is still at work, whether again for Paluscsak or for others vying for big fish titles in South Carolina. Happy hunting, y’all!
