Missing Fishing License Costs $1 Million Prize, Record

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - A fishing team thought they had the catch of the day, but instead it got away when an infraction disqualified them from a fishing tournament recently.

According to GrindTV.com , after thinking he had landed a $1 million prize for catching the biggest fish in the 52nd annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament , Andy Thomossan had a rude awakening when it was reeled back in.

A Citation crew member on Thomossan's fishing team had been caught fishing without a license, which was a violation of tournament rules.

So, not only was the tournament record the 883-pound marlin set deemed invalid, so, too, was the hefty award that would've gone along with it.

Even though the team was declared the winner of the competition on Saturday, much like an athlete testing positive for steroids, it ended in embarrassment and extreme disappointment.

A fishing license in North Carolina only costs $15, or $30 for non-residents of the state. The worker had purchased a fishing license after the fishing tournament, which went from June 11 to 19, had ended.

It was a lie detector test that gave the culprit, Peter Wann, away, and left his team devastated when tournament officials gave them the bad news late Tuesday.

"No record. No money. No fish. No nothing. Yep, it's a nice ending to the story isn't it?" Thomossan revealed to the Jacksonville Daily News . "He failed to get a fishing license, but we didn't know it. He told us he had it. He didn't. So you take a man at his word, you know?"

Meanwhile, HamptonRoads.com reports that tournament director Crystal Watters agreed with the board's decision: "We've never had a disqualification at the end of the tournament. There will be some lessons learned from this one."