The 42nd Annual White Marlin Open drew 307 boats from up and down the East Coast to fish for a record purse of nearly $4,000,000. After a dramatic week, the anglers landing the top two white marlin had each earned over $1,000,000 for their team.
The top fish of the tournament was the 94 pound white marlin caught on Wednesday by Cheryl McLeskey from Virginia Beach, VA. McLeskeys white was notable for several reasons: It was the 3rd largest white marlin caught in the tournament's 42 year history and it's the first time a women has taken top white marlin honors. The fish earned McLeskey and the
Backlash, also out of Virginia Beach, VA $1,176,113. The other million dollar winner, the
Lights Out, from Ocean Reef, FL made the 6 o'clock bridge on Friday and cruised to the Harbour Island scales. It came with a 79 pound white caught by Bill Haugland from Coral Gables, FL that took 2nd place good for $1,006,247.
Larry Hesse Jr. from Ft. Lauderdale, FL weighed the first qualifying billfish. The 551 blue marlin, caught on Monday, beat the tournament minimum by 51 pounds. Caught off the
Goin' In Deep, also from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the blue went wire to wire to win $778,728.
The tuna category also produced big winnings and last minute drama.
Rumor Has It, out of Chincoteague, VA, weighed in a 177 pound bigeye tuna, on day one, that was worth almost $400,000 until late Friday when the
Miss Annie of Palm Beach, FL rolled in with a 200.5 pound bigeye that cut into the 177 pounders winnings. The final standings had
Miss Annie winning $399,209 and
Rumor Has It taking second and $174,495. Other tuna winners were: the
Pez Machine from Ocean City, MD,
Plane Simple up from Satellite Beach, FL and
MJs from Ocean City, MD.
The dolphin division was won by the
Streaker from Fenwick Island, DE with 46.5 pounds earning $25,222 followed by Ocean City boat
Tra Sea Ann winning $24,222 with 42 pounds and
Turn Me Loose from Centreville, MD who took third with 36.5 pounds good for $23,222.
Warden Pass out of Cape May, NJ caught a 45 pound wahoo Monday and hung on to the top spot to earn $33,626. The
Just Right V from Port Delmarva, DE was 2nd with a 44 pounder taking $34,636 and
Sweet Water was 3rd with a 43.5 pounder worth $1,375.
In the Release division, the
Fishaholic topped 96 other boats with 15 white marlin and one blue marlin released and received $60,2019. The
Fishaholic also was the top boat in 307 boat field with 1295 total points and was named White Marlin Open Boat of the Year.
In the prestigious top angler division, John Gudelsky aboard the
Reel Joy out of Ocean City, MD released 6 white marlin, a blue marlin and a spearfish to gather 665 points to edge out Thomas Zebro and Bill Meyer on the
Fishaholic.
The 43rd Annual White Marlin Open will be August 8-12, 2016.
