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Friday’s Added Entries Spread the Wealth Across the Fleet
For the fifth consecutive day, a boat was waiting when the Harbour Island scales opened at 4 p.m. Friday. This time, it was CTRL ALT DEL with a 65-pound yellowfin tuna. The evening’s largest leaderboard change came only 14 minutes later.
At 4:14 p.m., Reel Hunter of St. Michaels, Maryland, weighed a 71.5-pound white marlin caught by Kevin Howell of Queenstown, Maryland. The fish moved into second place, pushed Bull Pen into third and is currently projected to earn $355,457.77. Mister Pete remains the leader with its 80-pound white marlin, while Bull Pen’s 70-pounder now holds third.
Although no Friday catch took over an overall division, the tournament’s many Added Entry Levels created winners throughout the fleet. Six Friday fish are now carrying combined projected payouts of more than $572,000.
Each Added Entry Level is optional and operates independently. As a result, a fish does not necessarily have to reach the overall top three—or even be the heaviest fish weighed that day—to produce a substantial payday.
Gear Up for the White Marlin Open
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53 Years and Over $121,000,000 in Prize Money
The White Marlin Open is a 53-year-old deep-sea fishing tournament held annually in Ocean City, Maryland. Long known as the “World’s Largest Billfishing Tournament,” the Open has awarded over $121 million for catches of the gamefish that migrate up the Gulf Stream each summer. The first tournament was held in 1974 and drew 57 boats, 150 anglers, and paid $20,000 in prize money. The 2025 event drew 282 boats, over 3,000 contestants, and awarded over $7.24 million dollars in prize money, including the top individual prize of $3.9 million dollars.