White Marlin Open Photos

It’s been an exciting week here in Ocean City, with over $2 million in prize money about to be distributed tomorrow afternoon! Three hundred boats from up and down the eastern seaboard, with more than 1500 anglers from all over the country, fished the waters from Norfolk to Wilmington canyons, brought in record numbers of fish. We saw the second largest blue marlin in tournament history, caught on Tuesday. We saw a local boy, a man who met his wife at Harbour Island and proposed to her here at the scales in 2001, catch a fish worth almost $1 million. We saw a dolphin miss a state record by half a pound. For the second year in a row, we have three white marlin over 80 pounds (last year being the first year in 30 years for that to occur), and for the first time in tournament history, the top three dolphin are all over 50 pounds. Come back starting in January for information about the 2009 tournament. Next year, fishing starts on August 3!

As tournament director Andy Motsko just announced, Friday has been almost as busy as Monday! Follow the leaderboard for all the latest developments. We have weighed in a first place (tied) white, a second place blue, a second and third (tied) tuna, a first and third place wahoo, and a second place dolphin. The only fish we haven’t seen is a shark! No records were broken today in terms of size, money, or number of fish, but the excitement at Harbour Island hasn’t suffered because of it. Stay tuned, the scales are open for another 90 minutes!

First place white marlin, first place wahoo, and the second qualifying blue of the tournament. Friday has been another hectic day here at Harbour Island, after two quiet evenings. The Hatterascal brought in a double-header of sorts: a white good for a first place tie at 81 lbs., caught by angler Rodger Mooney, worth $200,000, and a first place wahoo at 47 lbs., caught by angler Bob Hoste. Less than an hour later, the Press Time out of Ocean City hoisted a 534 lb. blue onto the scales, taking a bite out of Robert Lockwood’s winnings. Angler Ronald Marquette’s fish is currently worth $130,000.

The Jezebel, carrying angler Joe Maffei and his first place wahoo, just left the scales. Maffei, whose fish is currently worth about $15,000 (counting that daily meat fish calcutta), really delighted the crowd with his prize-winning fish.

Boy, is it a big one. A 172 pound bluefin tuna, nabbed aboard the Miss Andrea, is currently pulling angler Jimmy Hahn around $170,000. The Miss Andrea is certainly not afraid of the scales this week. They’ve been up here every day they have fished, and are currently holding both first and third place in the tuna calcuttas!

When the scales go quiet, as they have today, the tournament directors try to think up different was to entertain the crowd. DJ Paulo of Talk Radio 101.1′s Hot Spots Fishing show took guesstimates from the crowd for future-director Garrett Motsko’s weight. The winning guesser, Kyle Weeks, got to get the customary “scales shot” with his catch.

Twenty four Twenty three Eighteen Seventeen and counting down. The number of boats fishing today is decreasing as people call in to report lay days. With the vast majority of boats having fished both Monday and Tuesday, it would be asking a lot of the various crews to go out three days in a row. Offshore weather reports 6 foot seas and possible thunderstorms this afternoon.

There may still be some excitement at Harbour Island tonight. There are two $10,000 prizes for the daily meat fish (dolphin and wahoo) and only one boat has to go out and grab a big white for the whole leaderboard to be turned upside down. Stay tuned to WhiteMarlinOpen.com and the MarlinCam after 4pm (weather permitting) to keep on top of any developments.

The Last Run out of Morgan, New Jersey is at the scales with the second largest blue marlin ever caught in tournament history. Angler Robert Lockwood out of South Amboy, New Jersey, landed the 935.5 lb. fish with the help of his crew. As you can see here, the fish barely fit on the boat. The $600,000 in prize money (as of now) could certainly go a long way towards a larger vessel!

Check the Leaderboard to see the first and second place tunas (Dan McCarthy on the Risky Business at 109 lbs. and John McBride on the Miss Andrea at 108).

We also have our first wahoo of the tournament! George MacLean on the Fin Chaser wheeled a 40.5 lb. wahoo to the scales here at Harbour Island. George is out of Reading, Pennsylvania.

With clouds looming overhead and the crowd noticeably thinner than last night, Tuesday got off to a slow start. No boats awaited the opening of the scales at 4pm, but by 4:30 the C. Hawk had pulled up with angler Rodney Arbogast and his 98.5 lb. bluefin tuna aboard. Rodney’s fish, currently worth about $26,000, was caught at about 11:30am. The C. Hawk saw 6 billfish strikes today!