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 the big money is. Out of the $6.7 million dollar purse, over $4 million will go to the heaviest white and blue marlin caught during this week long event.
What Are Boat Fishing Days (BFDs)? Boat Fishing Days (BFDs) tells us how many boats are still eligible to fish another day during the tournament. There are 433 boats registered for the 2020 White Marlin Open and each boat gets to fish 3 days. 433 boats times 3 fishing days equals 1,299 BFDs. Each day the number of boats that fish are subtracted from the original 1,299 BFDs. On Monday, 42 boats fished which reduced the number of BFDs to 1,257 for the rest of the tournament. So, basically 90% of the boats have not started fishing the tournament yet. The BFDs will become more important as the week unfolds.
August 5, 2020
