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Within the first 40 minutes on the last day of weigh-ins at Harbour Island, $3 million dollars changed hands.  To win the biggest share of the $4.9 million dollars in prize money, a white marlin would have to top the 86-pound white caught off The Griffin from Palm Beach, FL on Wednesday.  That’s a big white and would have won 36 of the last 43 tournaments.  A closer look, however would reveal that it would have only won 4 of the last 8 events.  Still, Wilmington Delaware angler Mike Donohue had to like his chances to hold onto the $2.6 million-dollar prize.  

The scale for the last day of weigh-ins opened at Harbour Island Marina at 4:00 PM.  Waiting at the 3:30 bridge was MR Ducks from OC, Md.  The boat was carrying OC, Md. angler Joe Andrews with a white to weigh.  The digital scale judged Andrews’ fish to weigh 79.5 pounds which didn’t affect Donohue’s $2.6 million, but jumped into 2^nd knocking another OC boat, the Berzerker...

Each of the 353 registered boats are permitted to fish any 3 out of the 5 fishing days. There are different strategies involved when choosing the days to fish.  Some teams prefer not to fish the first day to better learn where the fish were found before using their fishing days.  Most will fish the first day if the weather allows.  Others prefer a day between trips to recover from a day on the ocean, which can be brutal at times.

This year, the weather called the shots on which days most boats would fish: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Only 136 boats went out Monday and just 12 fished Tuesday.  What that means is over 300 boats will be fishing each of the last 3 days in weather forecasted to be perfect for fishing.  The early risers can expect a parade of 300 boats passing thru the inlet between 4 to 6 AM each day.

Of the $4,966,215 in prize money $3,800,000 is reserved for billfish and no qualifying white or blue marlin have...