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2023 REVIEW

The first fifty years

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WHITE MARLIN OPEN
COFFEE TABLE BOOK

There is nothing quite like a tight line with millions of dollars in the bal-
ance. Still there is lots of work to do to close the deal. Belcher describes
the battle. “Lucky for us it hit the right gear so we got Johnny in the chair
and the fight was on. We knew it was a blue that was 300+ lbs. but had no
idea of its true size for the first hour and 20 minutes. It never came out
of the water so we never got a good look at it. After an hour and a half,
we finally got the fish to the side of the boat and could finally see it had
some size. At that point, all the fish wanted to do was go under the boat.
On the 3rd or 4th time we got it to the boat, I pulled it hard into the side
with a thunk and we were able to gaff it.”

Ok. You now have a huge billfish on board in a tournament that had yet to
have one brought to the scales. The crew had to feel pretty good at that
point, yes? As a seasoned veteran, Belcher knew better.

“We knew we had something and the celebrations began but I told every-
body to chill. I have seen too much happen over the years. We had heard The beautiful, intricate book
there was a white and a blue being brought in to be weighed. Nothing
was certain.” depicting the first 50 years

The Floor Reel picked up and headed to the scales. The moment of of the White Marlin Open,
truth came at about 6:30 pm. Belcher describes that moment. “By the
time we got to the scales, the white and blue had both been disqualified. the largest Billfish Tourna-
Then ours was measured, met the minimum length and was weighed. The
announcer said it was worth $2-3 million. Then he was interrupted by ment worldwide, is officially
the directors and informed the fish was actually worth over $6 million!”
here! This labor of love
Belcher reflects on his emotions at the time. “I have been at this for a long
time and seen just about everything, but I was stunned. It was unbeliev-
able. I kept thinking, we just won the Super Bowl!” shines cover to cover, Much

At that moment the celebrations could finally take place in earnest. Al- like the love and dedication
though there were still a few hours left before the scales closed for the
week, the victory for the Floor Reel was all but assured. that is given to the tourna-

It was quite a debut for the boat. Ols had just purchased the Floor Reel ment every year!
a month earlier and the WMO was the first tournament he had fished
with it. Although it is Ols’ boat and he was the angler, Belcher says Ols
knows it is not an individual sport. “Johnny is a great fisherman but he is
“I have fished lots of tournaments including 15-20 WMO’s the first to share the credit with those around him”, said Belcher. “He
and that was my first million dollar fish!“ knows to make something like this happen, it takes a team effort.”

- Dave Warren, Captain
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