It was a slower day for fishing in the 50th annual White Marlin Open out of Ocean City. With extreme winds blowing up to 20-25 miles per hour, ideal fishing conditions were not in anyone’s favor. However that didn’t deter 22 boats from going out and challenging the weather to catch that $50,000 heaviest marlin.
Hot Pursuit for the Daily Tuna
No Limits out of Indian River brought in the first fish of the day. There is a 50 pound minimum which the large tuna surpassed at 56 pounds and only took about 15 minutes to get in the boat. The brave boat reported 10-12 foot waves out in the middle of the Atlantic but it all seemed to be worth it to win that heaviest tuna of the day. The odds were in their favor as they were only challenging 21 other boats for the day. The heaviest day of tuna is worth $70,000.
But hot on their tails were Sea Wolf of North Carolina coming to the scales just minutes later to weigh in 2 tuna! Fans of the tournament held their breath as the two fish were slowly raised, one weighing in a 37 pounds and the other at 47 pounds. A close pursuit but to no avail.
The Blue Runner came in later that night at 8:10pm with a 54.5 pound tuna.
Weighing Wahoo
John Harris of the Shooting Star brought in a 57 pound wahoo around 8:30pm. The team fished on a 29′ foot boat that rocked back and forth in todays wind, but got themselves on the board in first place earning $2,000 as of right now. John reported that after they boated the wahoo, they spotted a big eye tuna hanging around the boat but couldn’t get him to bite.
Where are the Marlin?
It’s already the second day of the tournament and no marlin have been to the scales? As of today 225 white marlin have been caught and released in addition to 19 blue marlin. But they just haven’t had the length to them. As the week continues, we’ll be looking for more movement on the leaderboard. We’ll see everyone tomorrow at Marlin Fest.
