White Marlin Open Photos

The tournament directors all agree: this was the busiest day at the scales in tournament history. There were over 40 fish weighed in at Harbour Island. Not all of them went home winners, of course, but the crowd certainly got their fill. The current first place tuna was landed aboard the Ocean Dan-Sar by angler Shawn Cook.

There has been non-stop action at Harbour Island this year. The fish are coming in so quickly and changing the leaderboard so frequently that first place doesn’t stay first place any longer than the boat stays at the dock. The white marlin and tuna calcuttas have filled up, with fish taking all the big spots. The top white to beat is the 81 lb. white marlin brought to the scales by Tommy Hinkle from Berlin, Maryland. The Fish Whistle sails out of Indian River, Delaware.

Two boats have come to Harbour Island today only to go home empty handed. The Matador came in at 4:30 with a 53 pound white marlin, and the Over the Top is currently docked with a 432.5 pound blue. Both fish failed to meet the WMO’s stringent weight minimums, and so the leader board remains mostly empty.

Our confidential informants tell us that there are about a dozen boats on the radar approximately 10 nautical miles from Harbour Island. They’re all making their way towards us, several sporting billfish flags from their rigging.

Kenny Read, fishing on the Liquid Assets out of Ocean Pines, nabbed first place on the first day of the largest billfish tournament in the world. Reed, a native of Berlin, Maryland, stands to win about $270,000 if no other fish knocks him out of first place. Given that it’s not even 5pm on Monday, that seems like a tall order. Stranger things have happened, however.