While the weighed fish bring the most excitement to the viewing crowds during the Open, the 17 boats that fished today (in 5-8 foot seas) didn’t change the leaderboard of cash winners.
That allows the focus to turn to the most prestigious honors. The category that is unseen by the thousands of fans following the tournament goes to the boats and anglers catching and releasing the most billfish during the event. These are fish, (rarely seen at the scales), that represent a team effort between the boat, captain, mate, and angler to rank high in the standings. While luck plays a larger part in landing the heaviest fish, the effort needed to place high in the billfish points categories requires more team skill than netting the biggest fish.
The scoring for billfish points is as follows: White marlin release = 70 pts. White Marlin boated = 1 pt per pound. Blue marlin release = 175 pts. Blue marlin boated = 1/3 pt per pound.
After the fifth fishing day, these are the top five boats in this year’s billfish points category.
1 Bobojo, Manteo, NC – 1,033 points - 11 white marlin releases and 1 blue marlin boated.
2 Sequel, Jupiter, FL - 980 points - 9 white marlin and 2 blue marlin releases.
3 Taylor Jean, North Palm Beach, FL – 770 points - 11 white marlin releases.
4 Catch 23, Jupiter, FL – 770 points - 6 white marlin and 2 blue marlin releases.
5 MaxBet, Vero Beach, FL – 735 points – 8 white marlin and 1 blue marlin releases.
All 5 of the boats have used their 3-day limit to fish, so to be unseated from the top, some of the 60-plus boats that still have Saturday to fish will need to step up.
The leaderboard is still full of big fish
holding big money with the Waste Knot out of Raleigh, NC, on top with their 77.5-pound white marlin, caught on Tuesday that is still holding over $3.6 million. The top 897.5 blue marlin still holds first for the St Augustine, FL vessel Stone Cutter with earnings of $518,000. The heaviest tuna caught off the Pt. Pleasant, NJ boat Blue Runner is still holding over $1.1 million for the 220-pound bigeye for Cincinnati, OH angler Rob Jones. Rounding out the top fish categories is the Jupiter, FL boat Catch 23 and the 32.5-pound dolphin now worth $124,000.
Saturday is the last fishing day, and the weather will not be great offshore. But the boats eligible to fish have a better idea of where the fish are now. If history holds, the last day of the event could produce an exciting finish