A fisherman reeled in an 80-pound white marlin on Thursday, and it held up as the top prize in the six-day White Marlin Open based in Ocean City, Maryland.
Bill Sharpe of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, made the catch fishing aboard Mister Pete, earning the boat from Charleston $3,503,891 in the tournament’s premier division.
The 53rd year of the prestigious tournament, which ended Saturday, saw 334 boats compete for nearly $10 million in prize money.
In a rare feat, John Wardlaw of Brielle, New Jersey, caught a 179-pound tuna on Wednesday and a 69.5 wahoo on Thursday while fishing aboard Gray Fox, winning both divisions for the boat from Mantoloking, New Jersey. The tuna was worth $1,018,653, the wahoo $72,380.
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Other big-money winners:
James Hood of Charleston, South Carolina, caught a 70-pound white marlin that earned the boat Bull Pen $1,818,546, as the Charleston boat had added entry selections.
Kelly Weber of Vero Beach, Florida, landed a 607.5-pound blue marlin to earn his boat MaxBet of Vero Beach, $1,271,797.
Kevin Howell of Queenstown, Maryland, caught a 71.5-pound white marlin worth $360,721 for the boat Reel Hunter of St. Michaels, Maryland.
Robert Leerink of Palm Beach, Florida, caught a 146.5-pound tuna worth $175,265 for his boat Speculator of Palm Beach.
Anthony Rubino of Fenwick Island, Delaware, landed a 110.5-pound blue marlin that earned $111,965 for his boat See Legs of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
Ryan Jones of Welcome, Maryland, caught a 45-pound dolphin (aka dorado) as his boat Todays the Day from La Plata, Maryland, earned $22,602.
“Every year, the White Marlin Open seems to find a new way to surprise us, and this year was no exception,” said Madelyne Wainglass, the tournament director. “We saw incredible fish, dramatic changes on the leaderboard and some truly unforgettable moments at the scales.”
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Fisherman catches a white marlin worth $3.5 million
