The biggest billfish mostly weren’t biting, but an Ocean City, Maryland, boat landed a mammoth fish Friday to make it a hometown three-peat at the 50th annual White Marlin Open.
John Ols, a Laytonsville, Maryland, resident fishing on Floor Reel, reeled in a 640.5-pound blue marlin to claim the most lucrative category — and an estimated $6.2 million — as the tournament concluded late Friday night in Ocean City.
Floor Reel, whose fish was 118 inches long, is the third consecutive Ocean City boat to win the five-day event billed as the “World’s Largest and Richest Billfish Tournament.” The $6.2 million grand prize establishes a world record for the catch of a fish, breaking the previous record of $4.45 million won in last year’s White Marlin Open.
Ols’ fish was the tournament’s only qualifying billfish that made it to the scales, and Floor Reel brought it in Friday evening and waited about three hours until it was declared the winner. The catch beat last year’s biggest blue marlin by more than 100 pounds.
The tournament announced late Friday that 551 white marlin and 46 blue marlin were caught this week, but only three billfish were brought to the scales and only two were weighed. The Skirt Chaser (Manteo, North Carolina) just missed qualifying with a 67.5-pound white marlin, and the No Limit (Indian River, Delaware) landed a blue marlin that missed the 114-inch minimum length by two inches.
It’s just the fourth time in the tournament’s history — the others were 1984, ‘85 and ‘86 — that no white marlin filled the winning categories.
Boats are permitted to fish three of the tournament’s five days, and 357 boats hit the fishing grounds Friday.
Fishlik, a boat from Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore, finished on the leaderboard in the tuna category. The catch, landed by angler Chris Mentlik of Maryland, weighed 247.5 pounds and led the category until Friday. But Ocean City-based Reel Tight landed a 265-pound tuna Friday to earn an estimated $1 million. That dropped Fishlik’s winnings to an estimated $360,000.
Also in the tuna category, Ro Sham Bo, a boat from Ocean City, weighed a 215-pound bigeye tuna caught by Rusty Shriver (Leonardtown, Maryland). That earned an estimated $1.7 million in the $50,000 winner-take-all level because no white marlin or blue marlin were caught in that division and all prize money was diverted to the top tuna.
All winnings are estimates until the tournament finalizes the winners.
