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433 Boats Set For Tournament Restart

Hurricane Isaias is history.  What’s left are 433 fishing boats poised to take their share of the $6.7 million dollars in prize money up for grabs in the 47th Annual White Marlin Open.  The 42 boats that fished Day 1 in the Ocean City, MD tournament still have 2 fishing days left while 391 boats are eligible to fish any 3 of the 5 fishing days through the tournament’s end on Sunday.  The tournament was extended by 2 days to adjust for storm conditions and the weather looks good through Sunday.
The biggest challenge for the four hundred plus tournament captains will be to find the fish.  Most game fish are found in the canyon areas which are 50 to 70 miles offshore, and it is a big area.  After a major storm, such as Isaias, the one certainty is that the fish will have moved.  Boats who may have found pre-tournament hotspots will have to look elsewhere for pods of game fish.  More specifically, most boats are looking for white and blue marlin because that is where...

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Tuna Take the Stage on Day One

Most boats used caution today as tropical storm Isaias drew closer, and just 42 of the 433 registered boats fished Day 1 of the WMO.  Most of today’s boats were tuna fishing which often takes a shorter run.  Fewer boats traveled to the canyons, but some that did have good luck with white marlin release.  
The first fish to the scales Monday was a 114.5-pound tuna caught by Travis Ort from York, PA.  Ort was fishing on Ocean City’s “Restless Lady.”  Second place in the tuna category was Hunter Unruh from Townsend, DE with a 92-pound tuna caught aboard “Swords Fish” out of Indian River, DE.  In third was the “Wrecker” from Ocean City, MD with a 57-pound tuna caught by Joe Haycock from Ocean City, MD.  If the tournament ended today Ort would win $980,000, Unruh’s fish would take $250,000 and Haycock would walk with $300,000.  But of course, things will change over the week.
With Isaias expected to impact Ocean City on Tuesday, no boats are...

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