News

49th WMO Sets a World Record for the Catch of A Fish

The 2022 White Marlin Open concluded at 9:15 on Friday with a flourish with $6,000,000 changing hands in the final few hours.  Though the fishing was slow for most of the 408 registered boats, a few of the teams prospered.  The bigeye tuna were the tournament rock stars until Thursday when the marlin finally posted.  On day four, “C- Student” out of Southside Place, TX, weighed a 71.5-pound white marlin good for first place and a temporary grasp of $2,800,000 for angler Keeley Megarity from Houston, TX.  Just before Megarity’s fish was weighed, the “Cabana,” out of Fenwick Island, DE, arrive at the scales with a 511-pound blue marlin.  The blue was taken by Bill Britt from Sandy Spring, MD, to take first place as the only qualifier in that division and Britt claimed a temporary hold on $960,000 for his efforts.

However, on Friday at 6:20 PM, the “Billfisher” out of Ocean City, MD pulled up at the scale flying a white marlin-boated flag.  Jeremy Duffie from Bethesda, MD turned the leaderboard upside down by weighing a 77.5-pound white marlin and moving into first place.  The “Billfisher” was across the board with all the added entry skill levels and will be the recipient of a world record award for catching a fish: a staggering $4,400,000.   When the dust settles and the final tallies are made Duffie’s fish will be worth closer to $4,500,000 as the fish will also pick up some money from unwon categories.

We will have a summary with the final figures for all category winners on our website tomorrow.  We want to thank all our anglers and staff for running a very smooth event.  We also want to give special thanks to our diehard fans who help make this the most unique tournament in the world.

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Big Billfish Finally Arrive on Moving Day

Thursday has long been known as “Moving Day” for the White Marlin Open and today was no exception.  “Moving Day” refers to the money movement on the leader board.  For the first three days, the bigeye tuna took the spotlight and were holding the bulk of the $8.6 million money because no marlin had qualified. 

That changed at about 6:00 PM when the “Cabana,” out of Fenwick Island, DE, came to the scales with a 511-pound blue marlin.  The blue was taken by Bill Britt from Sandy Spring, MD, to vault into first place as the only qualifier in that division and Bill is currently winning $960,000 for his efforts.   Within a half-hour after weighing the “Cabana’s” blue, the “C- Student” out of Southside Place, TX, cruised to the scales with a boated white marlin flag flying.  Their white was first measured to test the length, (which must meet our 70” minimum) before it can be weighed.  The white measured 73” but still needed to cross one more hurdle:  it needed to meet our minimum weight of 70-pounds to qualify for prize money.  As angler Keeley Megarity from Houston, TX watched, the digital scale confirmed their hopes as it settled at 71.5-pounds taking over first place and the $2,800,000 that came with that achievement.

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