Day Three Recap
There were 120 boats that fished today that had a hard ride in while 284 boats laid in to recoup. Each boat gets to choose which 3 days to fish. Even in calm seas, a day’s fishing can be draining. Up at 4:00 AM to make a 3-hour run to the canyons and 7 hours of trolling under a hot sun before the 3-hour return trip to the docks. Most boats fished Monday and Tuesday and needed a day of rest. When the seas kick up the boat and passengers can take a beating. That happened to the some of the 120 boats that fish today as the seas picked up on their run home.
The big story of the 46th White Marlin Open is not visible to spectators, but the fishing is red hot and over 900 whites were released the first two days. The Open record is 1,358 whites caught in 2016 and the sea temperatures for 2019 are very similar to 2016.
In the money categories there was not too much movement. The top fish in all divisions remained in place. “Chasin Tail” is still holding...
Day 1 Recap
The offshore weather forecast for Monday was perfect and a tournament record 389 of the 404 registered boats went fishing. Each boat is eligible to fish any 3 of the 5 fishing days and with the good weather forecast offshore most boats fished today and the scales were busy.
The first fish weighed was a big winner. At 4:55 PM the “Chasing Tails” out of VA Beach, VA slipped under the Kelley Bridge flying a boated white marlin flag. The white was 68.5” long and tipped the scales at 74 pounds to take first place in the white marlin division. An hour Nate Walker from VA Beach was the angler and is currently winning $1,450,000. The 2ndwhite marlin to qualify was Brandon Dick-Giordano fishing on the “Reel Chaos”. The white weighed 70 pounds to take 2ndplace and is now holding $1,500,000. How does a 70-pound fish win more money than the 74 pounder? Boats can choose to enter Added Entry Levels and the 70-pound white was in more Levels than the 74...