White Marlin Open's last day is on the water

The 51st annual White Marlin Open closes up shop after today's final day of a weeklong competition that is worth an overall purse of $8.5 million.

The event this time around featured six days of fishing instead of five - extended because of Tropical Depression Debby.

This year’s Open features 318 teams from up and down the East Coast competing in what is billed as the largest and richest billfish tournament in the world.

According to officials, 62 teams are on the water today.

Despite adverse conditions that are mostly a result of Debby and a stalling cold front, hundreds of white marlin have been caught. Dozens of blue marlin and plenty of bigeye - even a bluefin - tuna also have been boated.

But there was little going on for the 17 boats that hit the water Friday.

Fish in each division must meet a required length before they can make the scales and then they must reach a weight minimum to get on the leaderboards.

Some fish come to the scales inches and ounces shy.

Almost all of the fish brought to the weigh station are donated to Food Banks in the Ocean City area.

Teams must pay entry fees into each of the divisions to compete for money in that category. To increase the winnings, teams must also pay into a variety of levels for things like daily catch, release scores and so on.

In fact, the release division - where teams earn points for caught then released fish - is arguably the hottest in the event. Sequel out of Beaufort, N.C., currently leads the division.

But there just isn’t the kind of money paid out in the white marlin division of the showdown.

Before they even pay for condos or hotels rooms, teams have to pay the event’s $1,650 basic entry just to show up at the door. Then there are boat slip payments, fuel, bait, food and drinks - things to do when not fishing.

Teams can knock on a $200,000 door for the entire week before they even know what hit them.

Heading into today’s final day of fishing, the leaders are:

In the tournament’s namesake division for white marlin, Ven Poole of Raleigh N.C., continues to lead with a 77.5-pounder caught on the Waste Knot - a Raleigh-registered boat that fishes out of Oregon Inlet.

Poole’s fish, caught three days ago, is worth $3,699,235.

His team has already fished its three days, which means the team will be sitting dockside waiting on today’s results.

Caught by Noah Vickers of the event’s hometown, a 76-pounder white caught on the Billfisher currently is worth $1,793,624 and is in second in the coveted division.

In the blue marlin division, Lance Blakemore of Horseheads, N.J., leads with a 897.5-pounder caught on the Stone Cutter. The fish is one of the top five blues ever weighed in at the event - based on weight and is currently worth $519,979.

Phil Key of Miller’s Island, Md., is in second with a 894-pounder caught on the Moore Bills that is currently worth $411,427.

Rob Jones of Cincinnati, Ohio, leads the tuna division with a 220.5-pound bigeye caught on the Blue Runner. His fish is worth $1,019,767.

A pair of bigeye tuna are tied for second at 193.5 pounds.

Fishing on former NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s Catch 23, Patrick Field of Stuart, Fla., leads with a 32.5-pounder worth $124,270.

Ian Horowitz of north Wales, Pa., leads the wahoo division with a 70-pounder caught on the Indian River, Del.-based vessel American Lady.

We’re keeping an eye on the Open while getting ready for the upcoming Pirate’s Cove and Virginia Beach billfish showdowns in the coming weeks.