White marlin have been numerous, but seemingly not in charge of their own tournament. At the WMO, that's finally changing
Well what do you know, white marlin have taken control of their own event.
On Wednesday, the 53rd annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Md., finally had a namesake billfish come to the scales and meet the qualifications to get on the leaderboard - just barely, but it made the money.
And we all knew - based on history - that it wouldn’t hold up.
Proof came Thursday when the Mister Pete backed into the dock at Harbour Island Marina. It had earlier been announced that the Charleston, S.C.-based vessel had another potential qualifier.
Which it did.
Angler Bill Sharpe of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., had fought a while marlin that seemed to have the right minimums of 70 inches long and 70 pounds. When the scale master mad the announcement, Sharpe’s fish turned out to be 80 pounds - not a giant by standards, but big enough to charge up the crowd.
Even more exciting was the potential prize money of $3,598,443 million.
The catch bumped the 70-pound Wednesday leader, caught by James Hood on the Bull Pen, into second. Also of Charleston, his fish is still potentially worth $2,038,872.
Kelly Weber’s 607.5-pound blue marlin maintained its lead in that division. The Vero Beach, Fla., resident caught her fish on the MaxBet, also of Vero. Her catch could be worth $1,260,248.
And for excitement’s sake, the team on the Mantoloking, N.J., boat Gray Fox continued to create havoc in other divisions.
Already leading the tuna division after Wednesday with a 179-pounder caught by John Wardlaw of Brielle, N.J., the team decided to capture the No. 1 spot in the wahoo division with a 69.5-pounder also caught by Wardlaw. With the tuna potentially worth $1,038 million and the wahoo prize of $130,992, the Gray Fox is having a pretty good tournament.
Today’s the Day of La Plata, Md., continues to lead the dolphin division with a 45-pounder caught by Ryan Jones of Welcome, Md. that mahi could be worth $34,828.
The only Virginia angler on the board is Andrew Somerville IV of Great Falls, with the second-place dolphin - a 37-pounder caught on the Bill Collector out of Crownsville, Md., and potentially worth $33,828.
No swordfish or spearfish have made it to the scales.
So far the 334-team fleet vying for a total of $9.9 million has caught 712 white marlin, 52 blues, 39 tuna, 12 dolphin and two wahoo.
Wasabi of Morehead City, N.C., leads the top release boat division with 1,120 points, followed by Ocean City’s MaxBet with 1,050.
There are 237 teams competing in today’s next to last day of fishing.
And you know the deal, there’s more to come.
