Tuna and Wahoo Leaders Endure Deteriorating Weather
The 136 registered boats that fished today knew they were taking a calculated risk. Each boat is permitted to fish any three out of the five fishing days and while the weather wasn’t going to be great Monday, Tuesday’s forecast called for seas up to 11 feet which would be unfishable. The NOAA offshore forecast report for Monday canyon areas were: Southeast winds 5 to 15 kts becoming South 10 to 20 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft.
Most boats had an easy run out and 2-3 foot seas at 8:30 when fishing started. By 12:50 the winds were 15-19 knots and 3.6-foot seas. An hour later the buoy registered 29-35 knot winds with seas of 4.8 feet and building. Fishing had been good but not great for many boats. Two boats that did have a good fishing day were the Milling Around and the Slabjack weighing tunas currently winning $460,000 and $76,000 respectively.
The Tournament tests both men and machine and the 3-hour run back to Ocean City was going to be a rough...
353 Boats Fishing for $4.97 MILLION in Prize Money!!!
The 44th Annual White Marlin Open, drew 353 registered boats with almost 3,000 anglers and crew competing for $4.97 million dollars in prize money. The tournament runs from Monday through Friday and the $4.9 million that will be presented at the August 12 Awards Ceremony Saturday will represent the largest amount of money ever awarded in any type of fishing tournament.
As the name suggests, the largest winnings will be in the white marlin category and the heaviest white marlin caught this week could win over $2,000,000. The two largest optional entry levels are the $10,000 and $5,000 heaviest white marlin winner take all divisions. There are 141 boats in the $10,000 level and 202 boats in the $5,000 division and a wining white marlin will win over $2 million if entered in both divisions.
Each boat is permitted to fish any 3 of the 5 fishing days. With 353 boats entered that totals 1059 total fishing days and strategy comes into play. Some boats...
