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While there were some changes in the leaderboard after the 2nd day of the 2021 White Marlin Open, the 82.5-pound white marlin caught Monday by angler Mike Atkinson off the “Fender Bender” both from Virginia Beach, VA is still the big story.  Atkinson is winning $4.9 million dollars and if it holds, the catch of that fish could be among the top prize money payouts in all of sports!
We’ll get back to that in a bit, but here is the rundown of the other category winners:  Leading the blue marlin division, the 559.5-pound blue marlin caught Monday by Chris Perry from the “Mama C”, both from Virginia Beach, VA, is holding onto the top blue marlin prize of $800,000.  
There is over $1,200,000 to be awarded in the tuna categories and, after day 2, the bulk of that money is still held by the “SEVEN” out of Jupiter, FL with angler Lawrence Morejon from Stuart, FL taking the lion's share of $1,043,000 for their 137-pound tuna.  The shark division purse of...

The 48th Annual White Marlin Open started at 4:00 AM Monday morning when 421 of the 444 registered boats passed through the Inlets of Ocean City, MD, Indian River, Delaware, and Cape May, New Jersey heading for the offshore fishing grounds that hold the gamefish that will pay the luckiest of anglers over $9,200,000 in prize money this week. 
The 2021 WMO awards exceed (by more than $2 million dollars) their previous world record fishing tournament payout of $6.9 million set in the 2020 event and, after day 1, there are already claims of lottery-sized winnings.  
The $9.2 million dollar purse is, as expected, weighed more heavily to billfish categories and two Virginia Beach boats are holding onto $5,700,000 of that purse after day 1.  The first boat to the scales was the “Fender Bender” out of Virginia Beach, VA.  Mike Atkinson, also from Virginia Beach weighed an 82.5-pound white marlin that is currently worth $4,900,000!  Not far behind, the “Mama C” and...