What you don’t see during the White Marlin Open are the fish that never make the scales. While only 22 boats fished today, and there were changes on the leaderboard, the story so far after the 2nd day of fishing is about the fisherman, not the fish. On Monday, the first fishing day, no marlin were weighed. However, 220 white marlin and 16 blue marlin were caught were released. With well over $7,000,000 dollars still riding on weighed billfish, you would think that at least one angler with visions of a lottery-sized payout would bring a marlin to weigh. On Tuesday, the boats that fished caught and released one white marlin and one blue marlin.
That is a testament to the ethics of billfishing anglers who have always realized the value of billfishing was in the catching, not the landing. There are 3 days of better offshore weather coming, (very subjective), and 400 boats are still eligible to fish for two more days. With $9 million dollars still to be claimed for a variety of species, the tournament is wide open for a dramatic finish.
There was movement on the leaderboard Tuesday as Shooting Star out of Indian River, DE pulled in late with a 57-pound wahoo caught by John Harris from Boyertown, PA. The wahoo jumped into first place, topping the 55-pounder caught on Monday by Jeff Williams off the OC-based Captain Deadly.
The weigh-ins will be held daily for the rest of the week at Harbour Island and is open to the public. The action can also be viewed on the Jumbotron at Marlin Fest at the inlet which is also a great place to watch the boats returning flying the flags of their catch.
August 9, 2023
