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The 46th White Marlin Open can be considered the most successful tournament yet for a number of reasons: 404 boats fishing for a World Record $6,186,870 in prize money is a good start.  The red hot billfishing set a tournament record for the number of billfish caught and released.  The prize money paid included two anglers that each won over $1,500,000, a blue marlin won $962,165, a tuna that took $935,915, a dolphin that won $74,900, and a shark that won $231,300.
As impressive as the payouts were, equally remarkable was the huge number of marlin caught & released.  By definition nobody saw them at the scales, but the release flags flew all week.  The tournament record was 1,358 whites caught in 2016 but the anglers toped that by over 100 fish.  The final count was 1,459 whites caught with 1,429 released with the top release boat, “Big Deal” out of Brielle, NJ breaking a 39-year-old record for most billfish releases by boat. The previous record was 26 white taken...

While the huge number of marlin releases remains a big story, by definition you won’t see them at the scales.  The Tournament Record is 1,358 whites caught in 2016, and as of this morning we had 1,208 caught with 268 boats still fishing today.  The  totals as of 11:00 PM were 1,452 white marlin caught with 1,423 of them released.  We already broke our record with more releases being tabulated.  
In the money divisions, basically, the big fish in all categories held their spots after the last day of fishing.  Ocean City, Maryland native Tommy Hinkle weighed a 79.5-pound white marlin on Thursday while fishing aboard the “Fish Whistle  out of Indian River DE.  The fish took 1st  place and netted Tommy $1,460,000.  Hinkle had also won the top white marlin in 2008 making Tommy the first angler in Tournament history to win the top white marlin twice!  The “Backlash” out of VA Beach, VA kept their $1,500,000 for the 73.5-pound white caught on Monday by angler...