Marlin Open

OCEAN CITY -- The White Marlin Open got off to a fast start yesterday as 194 boats headed for the offshore fishing grounds and anglers qualified in every tournament category except wahoo.John Brown, fishing on Outer Limits, heads the white marlin class with a catch weighing 73.5 pounds, followed by a 72-pounder caught by Buddy Trala, fishing on Velocity.Tournament officials estimate Brown's catch could be worth as much as $300,000 if it holds up.Dan Orenberg leads the blue marlin category with a 268.5 pounder.

Scott Cusick might not have caught the right species of fish to win a big prize in last month's White Marlin Open, but the 40-year-old New Jersey angler certainly had a memorable — and massive — catch. Cusick set a Maryland state record when he and crew members aboard a 50-foot Viking sport fishing boat hauled in a scalloped hammerhead shark that weighed nearly 267 pounds. The catch was 12 pounds more than the previous record, set in 2009. It wasn't nearly as big as the 500-pound thresher shark that Cusick helped catch about five years ago near Matasquan, N.J. "That's the odd part that this was a state record and the other one wasn't," Cusick said last week.

The White Marlin Open will be fished out of Harbour Island Marina in Ocean City tomorrow through Friday, and crowds will gather there each evening from 5 to 9 o'clock to watch the weigh-ins of marlin, tuna, wahoo, dolphins and sharks.With any luck and foresight by the competitors, the spectators will see some very large fish.The competition discourages the keeping of smaller fish."Naturally, it's very satisfying to see a beautiful trophy fish," said Chuck Motsko, who founded the tournament with his cousin, Phil Motsko, in 1974.

Bill Woody had made up his mind prior to the 2012 White Marlin Open that this would be the last time he competed in what is billed as the world's largest sportfishing tournament. It wasn't so much how expensive sportfishing had become in the dozen years since this self-made Baltimore businessman had bought his 50-foot Hatteras, as much as it was the hours that he devoted to it. Woody said he felt he was missing out on other activities with his family. It was similar to the years when he was building the engineering and land surveying firm that he worked for and later bought from its original owners.

OCEAN CITY -- With one day left in the White Marlin Open, John Brown of Broad Run, Va., still leads the white marlin category with a 73 1/2 -pounder caught Monday, the first day of the competition.With only 48 boats eligible to fish today, tournament officials said yesterday that Brown's catch has a good chance of holding up.According to tournament organizer Chuck Motsko, Brown's catch would be worth $414,000, "the highest cash award for any fish ever caught in the world."Robert Ham, of Pennsylvania, still leads the blue marlin division with a 446-pounder caught Tuesday.

If you are in Ocean City this week and looking for a break from the boardwalk, trundle over to Harbour Island Marina at 14th Street and the bay and catch the weigh-ins for the White Marlin Open.Chances are that any evening between Monday and Friday could provide a surprise at the scales -- white marlin, blue marlin, tuna, dolphin, wahoo or shark.Last year, the Outer Limits from Pirates Cove, N.C., collected a record cash award of $416,890 for a 73.5-pound white marlin, and Robert Ham, the chief of police from Strasburg, Pa., weighed in a 446-pound blue marlin worth $167,000.

OCEAN CITY -- By 7 p.m. yesterday only a handful of boats had come to the scales at the White Marlin Open -- but during the course of an hour, two tournament records had been set."We have never had two tournament records set in one day, much less two in one hour," said tournament director Chuck Motsko.John Main, fishing aboard Impulsive from Churchville, set the Open mark for wahoo with a catch of 87 pounds.But Slim Freitas of Port St. Lucie, Fla., fishing aboard Moderation out of Woodbridge, N.J., brought in a 326-pound bigeye tuna to break the Open record by 44 pounds.

For the second time in as many days, the White Marlin Open has seen the leader board change for its top competition, as 380 of the 428 entered boats left the shore yesterday. Jack Hotz of Lewes, Del., landed an 82-pound white marlin that surpassed the 80-pounder caught by Steve Richardson's Canyon Express on Wednesday. With one day remaining, Hotz's True Grit crew stands to earn $1.552 million. The catch barely edged that of Philip Infantolino of Brielle, N.J., whose 81.5-pound fish came in two hours after Hotz's.

Like every veteran fisherman, Jim Motsko has a classic story about the big one that got away.It was 1987 and Mr. Motsko had never won anything in the White Marlin Open, Ocean City's mammoth billfishing tournament he had founded 13 years earlier.On the last day of the five-day event, he was fishing aboard a 27-foot boat -- small for the billfish tournament -- captained by Chuck Willis, when he hooked a white marlin."As it jumped up," he remembers, "I looked at it and tought, 'That's a winner.

OCEAN CITY -- Through the first four days of this year's White Marlin Open, 225 white marlin were caught, but none met the tournament's minimum weight of 65 pounds.Yesterday, nearly $800,000 hung in the balance as some 260 boats ran out to the offshore canyons."That's what one 65-pound white marlin would be worth across the board," Open co-chairman Andy Motsko said shortly after the scales opened at Harbor Island Marina. "But that's if only one white is weighed in."Or, if the same boat weighed in the top two white marlins of the week, which tournament officials said never had been done.

The winner of the 39th annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City is set to receive an estimated prize of $1.4 million after reeling in the only white marlin to qualify in the five-day tournament. William "Bill" Woody, of Pasadena, caught the 72-pound white marlin last Wednesday aboard the Blew Bayou. The payout is expected to be $1,429,092, slightly higher than the payout of $1,394,480.50 made in 2007 for an 83-pound white marlin. Woody caught the only white marlin that met the minimum requirements of measuring at least 67 inches and weighing at least 70 pounds.

It has big boats, good food, cold drinks and oh yeah, it's the biggest bill fishing tournament of its kind. The 39th Annual White Marlin Open ends tomorrow and you will be beating yourself up if you don't stop by for this one. Taking place all week, with the official weigh-in scale located in Harbour Island on 14th Street and the Bay, spectators can watch the fisherman weigh-in their catch everyday between 4 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. while enjoying all...

In response to popular demand, this year's White Marlin Open will include a new category for small boats. The addition is intended to level the playing field for anglers at the 39th edition of the event, to be held Aug. 6-10 in Ocean City . "Over the years, people have expressed their opinion that we should do something with smaller boats, because maybe some of the smaller boats feel they can't compete against some of the bigger boats," said...

The scales have just opened for the last day of weigh-ins at the 38th annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City. ( You can watch the Marlin Cam here .) It looks like Wee Wun IV 's white marlin tipped the scales this afternoon at more than 88 pounds, bumping off Tighten Up , of Ocean City, who had held the lead since Tuesday for a prize estimated at more than $800,000. (John Schmitz, of Westminster, aboard Sea Note , was also in the running, with a catch that weighed 79.5 pounds.)

The fish are biting offshore in Ocean City as the resort launches the 38th Annual White Marlin Open today at Harbour Island Marina at 14th Street and the bay. The tournament draws anglers from all over the world to fish for white marlin, blue marlin, tuna, dolphin, wahoo and shark. Last year, some 2,000 entered the competition, winning more than $2 million in prize money. The catch included a 97.5-pound white marlin that took first place and won Brian Roberts, of Berlin, a check for a cool $856,506.

It doesn't necessarily take experience, or even skill, to catch the winning fish at the White Marlin Open in Ocean City. All it takes is a bit of luck, says Jim Motsko, 63, president and founder of the event, a longtime summer tradition at the resort that begins Monday. "We've had many years when the heaviest white marlin was caught by a novice," he said. "Anybody can get lucky." The White Marlin Open typically draws hundreds of boats and thousands of anglers. Motsko expects more than 2,000 to enter the tournament and nearly 5,000 to watch the anglers display their catches each night during the weeklong tournament, which will feature a variety of music and food vendors, as well as other goods.

OCEAN CITY -- Bob Bell steps into the salon of the Shamrock, slides the door closed and the hubbub of the White Marlin Open is shut out, the chatter of onlookers muted, the stares of the curious blacked out by dark glass.For a day, and perhaps for four days more, Bell has captured the attention of a couple of thousand billfishing enthusiasts. A few minutes earlier, the Baltimore auto dealer had checked in an 80.5-pound white marlin, a fish that would be worth $230,000 by the end of the week.

Pat McDonough of Kennewick, Wash., writes: I just read [about the White Marlin Open] and am wondering how a smaller fish earns more money than a larger fish. We used to bet on rabbit hunting: the most cottontails, the first black cottontail and the most black "wabbits" harvested. Does the Open work like that? That $800,000 purse is attractive. What sort of entry fees are we talking for a tournament such as this one? Outdoors Girl replies: Tournament fishing has a payout system that takes a little getting used to. For example, after paying the registration fee of $950 (early bird)

For the second time in as many days, the White Marlin Open has seen the leader board change for its top competition, as 380 of the 428 entered boats left the shore yesterday. Jack Hotz of Lewes, Del., landed an 82-pound white marlin that surpassed the 80-pounder caught by Steve Richardson's Canyon Express on Wednesday. With one day remaining, Hotz's True Grit crew stands to earn $1.552 million. The catch barely edged that of Philip Infantolino of Brielle, N.J., whose 81.5-pound fish came in two hours after Hotz's.