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Friday, Aug. 11, marked the ultimate day of the 50th annual White Marlin Open, a storied billfishing match primarily based in Ocean Metropolis, Maryland. Nevertheless it was a blue marlin that made historical past that night. The tournament-winning fish netted the highest crew a handbag of $6.2 million, which represents the biggest payout in fishing match historical past, in keeping with the organizers.
Angler John Ols landed the large blue. He was fishing aboard the Ground Actual, which is predicated in Ocean Metropolis and was one among 357 groups competing within the five-day match. Altogether, the sector of anglers landed roughly 551 white marlin and 46 blue marlin throughout the occasion.
Solely two of these fish had been large enough to be weighed, nonetheless, and Ols’ marlin was the one one which met the minimal size and weight necessities with a purpose to qualify. (The match minimums for blue and white marlin are 114 inches and 70 kilos, respectively.) His roughly 640-pound fish took first place in each the white and blue marlin divisions—together with all of the prize cash that got here with it.
“The blue marlin from the Ground Actual left little doubt when it was measured at 118 [inches] within the boat earlier than electrifying the gang whereas tipping the scales at 640.5 kilos,” officers defined in a information launch. “It proved to be the one qualifying billfish and wins many of the cash for each white and blue marlin.”
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The $6.2-million purse replaces the earlier world document for the most important payout in fishing match historical past, which was set throughout final 12 months’s White Marlin Open. The record-breaking $4.45 million in winnings went to Capt. Jeremy Duffie, who took first place in 2022 with a 77.5-pound white marlin. Duffie’s boat, the Billfisher, can also be primarily based in Ocean Metropolis.
The Ground Reel wasn’t the one boat that took house greater than $1 million from this 12 months’s occasion, both. Event officers stated that “two new millionaires had been minted within the tuna classes” as properly. Ro Sham Bo, out of Ocean Metropolis, introduced in a 215-pound bigeye tuna value $1.7 million, and Reel Tight, additionally out of Ocean Metropolis, caught a 265-pound tuna value $1 million.
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