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WMO TOURNAMENT RECORDS
73.5lb BULL DOLPHIN | 2020
Matt Wagner caught this 73.5
lb. bull dolphin in 2020 fishing
aboard the Backlash out of
Virginia Beach, VA. Wagner’s
catch beat the long standing
record 71 lb. dolphin caught by
Jeff Rice in 1986.
Photograph by: Dale Timmons
Photograph by: Dave Messick
26 WHITE MARLIN RELEASES | 1980
In what many consider the greatest and most unbeatable WMO record, Hank Manley fishing on
the Escapade caught 26 white marlin in three days in 1980 which earned him 1949 billfish points.
Ironically, the second place finisher that year, Pete Boinis, still holds the record for second most
billfish points with 1870, losing to Manley by one fish. No one else in our fifty year history has
come within 679 points of Manley’s mark.
Photograph by: Paul Winner Photograph by: Dale Timmons
326lb BIG EYE TUNA | 1992 931lb TIGER SHARK | 1995
Jim ‘Slim’ Freitas of Port St Lucie, FL caught Jerry Fish poses with his massive 931 lb. tiger
this 326 lb. bigeye on the Moderation in 1992. shark caught in 1995, the largest shark and
It is the only tuna in our history which topped the 5th largest fish of any kind ever caught
300 lbs. and has stood as a WMO record for in the WMO. Shark is no longer a category
32 years. It was part of a double header in- in the tournament so Fish’s record will be
cluding a 271.5 lb. second place winner caught forever etched into tournament lore.
by Roger Glynn.
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