Can Sneads Ferry's Pelagic Hunter II shock the Big Rock Blue Marlin stage again?
John Cruise III is not only entering the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament again this year, the Sneads Ferry captain is excited to see if his 35-foot-Contender, Pelagic Hunter II, can shock the fishing community a second time by winning the East coasts most prestigious blue water fishing event. We are bringing the same boat, Cruise said. We are very well-prepared and we are excited about this years Big Rock. I have been planning and preparing all winter looking forward to this.  Cruise, a 48-year-old active duty Marine, captained the first outboard to win the Morehead City tournament since 1962. Its 495.2-pound marlin, brought in on the penultimate day of the six-day event, held on after Morehead City-based Sea Striker came just 0.2 pounds shy on the final day. More:Sneads Ferry Marine reflects on historic Big Rock title  More:Sneads Ferrys Pelagic Hunter II blessed with Big Rock Blue Marlin win  More:Sneads Ferrys Pelagic Hunter II takes over Big Rock lead  Cruise said what followed was a storm of congratulatory texts, emails and phone calls, not just from the area, but from people from across the country. His team's win a year ago is the equivalent to a lower-seeded mid-major winning the NCAA basketball championship. They won in a field of a record 205 boats entered. Cruises crew won $206,688 for its Level I victory and an additional $16,575 for winning the Outboard division from the Big Rocks record $3,352,475 purse. Sea Striker won $1,056,137 because it entered all the categories. Some people were talking about the money, but for us, it was about the trophy for winning, Cruise said. The Big Rock is the Super Bowl of all blue marlin tournaments in the world because it is the highest level of competition. We were in the garage the other night still talking about how we won the Big Rock last year.  Cruise expects to enter at least four levels, and perhaps all of them, for this years 63rd Big Rock, which starts Monday. Boats will fish four out of the six days, with the tournament ending Saturday. For more information about the event, including live updates on hookups and arrivals, go to thebigrock.com for details. We have a lot less capabilities, especially when it comes to big seas and crews. We are still a three to four-man crew, Cruise said. But we will work hard and we are prepared.  Cruise anticipates a good week of fishing. He said the beginning of the week will feature beautiful days, but he expects conditions to become rougher later. There has been a lot of marlin caught recently, he said. It takes a combination of things, Cruise said. It takes a lot of preparation, a lot of team work and a lot of hard work.  Chris Miller can be contacted via email at chris.miller@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @jdnsports.