The 48th annual White Marlin Open, held in Ocean City, Maryland broke records this year. We take a look at one of the biggest tournaments on the US game fishing calendar and who shared in on the record $9.2 million in prize money.
The 48th White Marlin Open breaking records
Jim Motsko, founder and co-director of the event, said he was surprised at the massive turnout of participants as they were expecting “20 boats at the most” this year. Instead, this year’s tourney drew in a whopping 444 boats—just five boats short of the event’s record turnout of 449 boats back in 2005.
Challenges and Winners at the 48th White Marlin Open
On the first day of the tournament one of the participating boats—a 30-foot pleasure craft—encountered engine trouble, causing it to fill with water. Luckily for the anglers, the ‘Fishbone’ was nearby. The crew from the ‘Fishbone’ responded and all the anglers escaped into the life raft from the semi-submerged vessel were safely brought aboard. The ‘Fishbone’ crew even salvaged the beers from the pleasure craft.
The organisers of the White Marlin Open also saw a weigh-in by the end of day 1 as Mike Atkinson of Virginia Beach, landed a 82.5-pound white marlin while fishing on ‘Fender Bender’.
By Wednesday night, Mostko reported that the participants had landed a total of 376 billfish—326 white, 39 blue, eight spearfish and three sailfish. Five whites and only one blue marlin were boated, while all the spearfish and sailfish were released.
Unfortunately for Atkinson, angler Butch Wright appeared at the scales with an 85.5-pound white marlin in the last hour on the final day. He not only knocked Atkinson off first place, but he also secured $3.2 million for landing the heaviest white marlin of the tournament. Despite being knocked off first place, Atkinson still netted a healthy $1.8 million prize for his second place.
Although the white marlin is the drawcard for the biggest prize pool in the tournament, five other categories—blue marlin, tuna, dolphinfish, wahoo and sharks—also generated massive payouts. These subcategories lined several teams’ pockets. Among them were David Cash from team Seven, who weighed in a huge 775-pound blue marlin, netting his team a whopping $1.1 million.
Winners for the different categories include:
White marlin
1st – Angler Butch wright, 85.5-pound – $3,200,000
2nd – Mike Atkinson, 82.5-pound – $1,800,000
3rd – Billy Gerlach, 78.5-pound – $106,216
Blue marlin
1st – David Cash, 775-pound – $1,100,000
2nd – Chris Perry, 559-pound – $249,914
3rd – Scott Zurawaski, 511-pound – $105.216
Tuna
1st – Lawrence Morejon, 137-pound – $1,251,230
2nd – Zak Smith, 102-pound – $12,720
3rd – Ron Kawaja, 96-pound – $1000
Dolphin fish
1st – Charles Disham, 34-pound – $22,090
2nd – Andrew Kinsley, 31.5-pound – $21,090
3rd -Ricky Petroceli, 31-pound – $1000
Wahoo
1st Time Richardson, 46.5-pound – $92,450
Shark
1st – Anthony Sapenero, 132-pound – $4500
2nd – Michael Lupacchini, 131-pound – $3500
Officials from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) also announced that one of the participants—Jacob Bertonazzi of New Jersey—broke the state record landing a 318.5-pound swordfish out of “Poor Man’s Canyon.”
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The History of the White Marlin Open
Since the tournament’s inception in 1974, the beach town of Maryland has been invaded by hundreds of game boats every August. Anglers from all over the US are attracted by the lure of landing the biggest white marlin and big prize pool.
Although white marlin aren’t as prestige as the blue or black marlin, it is known to be a quite elusive billfish species to land.
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Joining the White Marlin Open
When entering the White Marlin Open, participants have a real chance to take home millions in prize money. However, joining the contest would also require teams to dish out a substantial amount of money in entry fees alone. With over ten different tiers, teams will need to come up with $25,500 to compete in all tiers. Considering the prize pool on offer, it’s well worth the investment!
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