Page 14 - wmo-51st-magazine

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BOAT SHOW Want to see some of the prettiest boats in the world?

Take a walk down the docks at Sunset Marina, Ocean City Fishing Center,
or any of the other marinas in Ocean City and see what $6 million buys you.

Photograph by: Harry R. Hindmarsh The blue marlin from the Floor Reel left no doubt when it was measured at
118” in the boat before electrifying the crowd while tipping the scales at 640.5
pounds. Caught by John Ols from Laytonsville, MD, it proved to be the only
qualifying billfish and won most of the money reserved for both white and blue
marlin. The $6.2 million awarded sets a new world record for the catch of a fish.

Long time WMO participant Rob Belcher was a part of the Floor Reel crew and
describes the mindset of the team.
MARLIN FOOD
WMO 2023 REVIEW “The billfishing was slow that week but throughout we remained confident and
competitive”, said Belcher. “Part of that was having Dave ‘Big Wave’ Warren as
our captain. Dave is usually on a boat in Cabo but it had a cracked shaft so he
WMO | 2023 had some time on his hands. We convinced him to make the trip north. I have
been fishing with Dave on and off for 30 years and when we work as a team, I
What does a $6.2 million bill look like? No, always feel like we are going to win. You have to feel that way. Confidence is a
big piece of the battle.” Find the bait and chances are you’ve
not the kind you get in the mail with a clear found the marlin. And finding the
window in the envelope. We are talking the Confidence is one thing but confidence doesn’t always catch you a fish. Being in marlin is the best way to getting a
the right place at the right time does. On Friday, that is exactly where and when space on the leader board.
about the bill on a blue marlin in the White the Floor Reel was.

Marlin Open. And this isn’t the kind of bill Capt. Warren who has fished the WMO on and off for 30 years, and cashed in
that you owe. No sir. This is the kind of bill several times, had a hunch.

that pays out life changing money. “We were fishing in the Wilmington with much of the fleet and nothing was
happening”, said Warren. “I had gotten some intel from a friend that there was
some action in the Poor Man’s. Around noon we got a new Roffers shot (a fishing
The Floor Reel, a recently purchased boat that was fishing it its first tournament,
knows all too well what a six-million dollar bill looks like as they brought in the analysis program) and my eyeballs went right to where my friend suggested. We
only qualifying billfish in the last few hours of the 2023 tournament. pulled up, passed a bunch of boats and headed for the northeast corner of the
Poor Man’s.”
For the first four fishing days, tuna ruled the scales and the prize money. That
changed when the Floor Reel out of Ocean City, MD made the 6 o’clock bridge Belcher picks up the story from there. “As we approached that area, we saw
and headed for the Harbour Island scales with a fish they knew would qualify. It several 30-pound tunas jumping out of the water, a sure sign that something was
was the third billfish brought to the scales Friday. The first was the Skirt Chaser there. So we put out our lines. Sure enough, in short order, something hit the
out of Manteo, NC with a 67.5-pound white marlin that made the 70” minimum shotgun and pulled the drag but then it went quiet. Knowing something was
needed to weigh, but just missed the 70-pound minimum to qualify. The No Limit there, we cleared everything except the line that was hit. The fish then appeared
out of Indian River, DE brought in a blue marlin that seemed to lose a bit of length in our right spread and we threw a pitch bait to it but it showed no interest. It
in the hours after being boated and missed our 114” minimum length by two came back to the line, pulled the lure again and let it go. Finally on the third
inches. strike, it hit the lure and the line came tight.”

14 visit us online at www.WhiteMarlinOpen.com