News

For the second year in a row, the last white marlin weighed netted a world record purse. In 2021, "Sushi" out of Ocean City, MD took the top white marlin at the last minute, and at the time collected (a then world record payout) of $3,200,000 for catching a fish. That record payout lasted just 10 months when angler Matthew Brown fishing aboard the "Mercenaria" in the 2022 Big Rock tournament out of Morehead City, NC weighed a 572.6-pound blue marlin and won $3,489,813.

During this year’s White Marlin Open (as they would say in fishing parlance), the billfishing was lousy. In 2016, 1445 billfish were caught, while the 2019 event saw a total of 1,504 billfish taken.  But this year, the marlin were AWOL for most boats. A total of just 155 whites were caught with 151 released while 58 of the 59 blue marlin caught were released. And no marlin was even weighed until Thursday.

On day four, the "Cabana," out of Fenwick Island, DE, arrived at the scales with a 511-pound blue marlin. The blue was taken by Bill Britt from Sandy Spring, MD, to take first place as the only qualifier in that division. That fish held on until the end and Britt was awarded $1,208,420 for his efforts.

The 2022 White Marlin Open concluded at 9:15 on Friday with a flourish with $6,000,000 changing hands in the final few hours.  Though the fishing was slow for most of the 408 registered boats, a few of the teams prospered.  The bigeye tuna were the tournament rock stars until Thursday when the marlin finally posted.  On day four, “C- Student” out of Southside Place, TX, weighed a 71.5-pound white marlin good for first place and a temporary grasp of $2,800,000 for angler Keeley Megarity from Houston, TX.  Just before Megarity’s fish was weighed, the “Cabana,” out of Fenwick Island, DE, arrive at the scales with a 511-pound blue marlin.  The blue was taken by Bill Britt from Sandy Spring, MD, to take first place as the only qualifier in that division and Britt claimed a temporary hold on $960,000 for his efforts.

However, on Friday at 6:20 PM, the “Billfisher” out of Ocean City, MD pulled up at the scale flying a white marlin-boated flag.  Jeremy Duffie from Bethesda, MD turned the leaderboard upside down by weighing a 77.5-pound white marlin and moving into first place.  The “Billfisher” was across the board with all the added entry skill levels and will be the recipient of a world record award for catching a fish: a staggering $4,400,000.   When the dust settles and the final tallies are made Duffie’s fish will be worth closer to $4,500,000 as the fish will also pick up some money from unwon categories.

We will have a summary with the final figures for all category winners on our website tomorrow.  We want to thank all our anglers and staff for running a very smooth event.  We also want to give special thanks to our diehard fans who help make this the most unique tournament in the world.