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 Michael Wagner from La Plata, MD. “Chasing Tails” with angler Nate Walker, both from VA Beach, VA caught their 74-pound white on Monday and earned $135,000.
The 465.5-pound blue marlin caught on Tuesday by Craig Dickerson from Pasadena, MD aboard the “Haulin N Ballin” out of Ocean City, MD was the only qualifier in that division and Dickerson won $740,000 for his blue.
The “Crisdel” out of Ocean City, MD weighed in a 201-pound bigeye caught by Russell Garufi from Bishopville, MD on Monday and stayed in first the whole week to kept $940,000. The “Seakeeper” from Wilmington, DE weighed a 150.5-pound Allison tuna on Friday. The angler was Andrew Semprevivo from Mystic Island, NJ who took 2nd place and won $100,000 for his efforts. Ocean City native Ronnie Fields weighed a 145.5-pound tuna off the “Mjolnir” out of Bay Point, FL on Tuesday and held on to win $130,000.
The 277.5-pound mako shark caught Monday by Greg Robinson aboard the “Polarizer” was the only shark weighed and held onto $225,000 won from the “Big Fish” pool.
The “Give It Away” took over 1st place in the wahoo division and won $16,000. Other winners in the wahoo division were the “The Natural,” and “Keepin It Reel” won $18,000 each and the “Nighthawk” won $16,000.
The big winner in the dolphin division was the "Miss-Tress" with Randy Drozd. The “Miss-Tress was in the small boat division and the 38-pound dolphin weighed on Friday won $75,000.
We will have our complete tournament summary posted tomorrow after all the releases are tabulated.
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