On the fifth and final day of the 50th White Marlin Open, a fisherman landed the first and only qualifying billfish of the tournament, and it was a whopper worth a hefty sum.
John Ols of Laytonsville, Maryland, caught a 640.5-pound blue marlin Saturday that paid a world-record $6.2 million from a $10.5 million purse.
Ols was fishing with a team aboard the Floor Reel, a boat based in Ocean City, Maryland, where the tournament is based. It was the third straight year a boat from Ocean City won the five-day event billed as the “World’s Largest and Richest Billfish Tournament,” as reported by The Virginia-Pilot.
Ols’ fish was weighed Friday evening, and then the team had to wait three hours until the fish was declared the winner. It beat last year’s winning blue marlin by more than 100 pounds, and surpassed the record payout of $4.45 million set last year with a 77.5-pound white marlin caught by Jeremy Duffie.
Ols’ fish measured 118 inches, easily making the 114-inch minimum length to have it weighed.
“While there were unofficially 551 white marlin and 46 blue marlin caught, only three billfish were brought in and only two were weighed,” the tournament report stated.
“The Chaser out of Manteo, N.C., just missed with a 67.5-pound white marlin [the minimum for weighing is 70 pounds or 70 inches], and the No Limit out of Indian River, DE, brought in a blue marlin that missed our 114” minimum length by two inches, so it was not weighed.”
From The Virginia-Pilot:
No white marlin caught were deemed large enough this week to bring in to weigh, although more than 400 were caught during the week. It’s just the third time in the tournament’s history — the others were 1984, ‘85 and ‘86 — that no white marlin filled the winning categories.
Boats are permitted to fish three of the tournament’s five days, and 357 boats hit the fishing grounds Friday.