White Marlin Open

The 49th annual White Marlin Open (WMO) saw a slow week of fishing for the 408 battlewagons vying for a piece of the $8.6 million prize money. Tournament Director Andy Motsko said that 1,504 billfish were taken in 2019 compared to this year’s 59 blue marlin and 155 whites – which is 1,290 fewer fish! But the fifth and final day saw $6 million change hands. And Vikings rose to the occasion!

At the Scales

Keeley Megarity, fishing on his Viking 66 C- Student, weighed one of only four white marlin brought to the scales - a 71.5-pound fish. The white was caught on Day 4, and by the end of the five-day event claimed 2nd Place White Marlin. Captain Ken Blackman was at the helm.

Frank Sinito Jr. had a strong tournament while fishing on his Viking 62 Irene. Not only did Frank land the Top Dolphin (59.5 pounds) he also released three white marlin earning him 10th Place Angler, a stellar job considering the enormous field of anglers.

Third Place Wahoo went to Patrick Brown with a 51.5-pound fish. Patrick fished on the Viking 55 Irish Twin.

Over 1,000 pounds of fresh tuna, mahi and marlin were donated to the Maryland Foodbank. Not a fish was wasted!

Top Anglers & Boats

The Superbowl of Sportfishing always brings plenty of thrills to the dock. It also brings a heck of a lot of anglers! Given the 408 registered boats, we figure there were 2,448 anglers*. Normally we cover places 1st through 3rd but the top 20 finishes at the WMO are the upper echelon of sportfish – we’re talking the top 5%! So, let’s take a look at the crème de la crème of the WMO.

Fifth Place Top Boat (top 1.22%) and Fifth Place Release Boat was Michael Jordan’s Viking 80 Catch 23. Patrick Field released a blue marlin, Jimmy David and Trey McMillan released a white marlin, Nick Ewald and Anibal Moya released a sailfish.Trey also boated a 76-pound tuna. Captain Stetson Turney was at the wheel.

Sixth Place Angler (top 1.47%) was Chad Moss fishing on his family’s Viking 72 SandboB. Chad released a pair of blue marlin. Colton Richardson added a white release to boost SandboB to Ninth Place Top Boat and Ninth Place Release Boat.

11th Place Angler was George Robinson on the just-delivered Viking 64 Polarizer. A blue and a white marlin were released for the honors. Another white release was recorded by Greg Robinson clinching a 17th Place Release Boat finish and 18th Place Top Boat title. The boat was captained by Bill Davis.

12th Place Top Boat and 12th Place Release Boat was the Viking 80 Krazy Salt’s. David Anderson – 17th Place Angler - released a blue and white marlin for the boat while Dan Pettit and Jeff Theil each released a white. Krazy Salt’s had WMO veteran Keith Greenberg at the helm.

17th Place Top Boat was Thomas Healy’s Viking 58 Elizabeth Ann. Thomas and Ted Rubberti each released a blue marlin. Jimmy Bunting was the captain and Chip Graves mated.

19th Place Angler was Andrew Confotini with a blue marlin release on Chip Caruso’s Viking 70 Pipe Dreamer.

Next year is the 50th edition of the White Marlin Open – and we can’t wait! Mark your calendar for August 7-11, 2023 for the world’s largest and richest billfish tournament.

*The WMO rules state an unlimited number of anglers are allowed per boat. From our experience, six is an average number of anglers per boat at a tournament. So, six anglers on 408 boats adds up to 2,448 anglers. Disclaimer: We are not claiming to be statisticians.