White Marlin Open Photos

Ocean City, MD August 10, 2009 – The 36th Annual White Marlin Open came to a close Friday night with two Maryland state records being broken during the five day fishing tournament. Sean Healey of Prides Crossing, MA, fishing aboard the Orion out of Palm Beach, Fl., took home a $903,442.00 paycheck with the winning 93.5 lb. white marlin; however, the new state record blue marlin stole the show.

The winning blue marlin weighed 1,062 lbs., and shattered the existing Maryland state record of 942 lbs., set in 1989 by Jim Daniel. The fish earned Robert Farris of Charlotte, NC, and the crew aboard the No Problem a $454,999.00 paycheck. The fish was caught on 80-lb. class tackle, and took over three hours to bring to the boat. Another Maryland state record broken at this year’s event was the scalloped hammerhead shark, caught by Jamie Gill aboard the Lisa. The 254 lbs. shark bested the existing record by 60lbs., and earned the crew a $4,500.00 paycheck.

This year’s winning white marlin was the largest seen at the White Marlin Open since 1980 when a tournament record 99lb. white marlin was caught. This year’s winning white marlin fell short of the state record of 135lbs. As soon as the fish was hooked the boat experienced engine trouble. The Orion was stuck in forward, and could only circle the fish in wide loops. The angler was forced to walk around the boat and fight the fish for an hour before it was finally brought to the boat. The fish was then brought to the tournament scale by truck, which is legal by tournament rules. It was only the second white marlin Mr. Healey had ever caught.

Rounding out the leaderboard were the 1st place tuna, dolphin (fish), and wahoo divisions. 1st place in the tuna division was a 249.0lb. bigeye tuna caught by Doug Slater aboard the Shadowfax. The big tuna earned the crew a $179,581.00 paycheck. First place in the dolphin division was a 37.5lb. dolphin caught by Ronald Bennett aboard the Crush-Em. The fish earned the crew $16,572.00. The winner in the wahoo division weighted 47.0lbs., and earned the crew of the Wave Dancer $2,000.

The White Marlin Open is the World’s largest billfish tournament, and while the tournament requires fish to be brought in and weighed, the tournament directors encourage the release of billfish with high minimum size and weight regulations. White marlin must be at least 67-inches long and weigh 65lbs. to qualify, and blue marlin must be 105-inches long and weigh 500lbs. Boats are required to use non-offset circle hooks when using natural baits or natural bait and lure combinations. Research has shown that the use of non-offset circle hooks drastically reduces the mortality rate of released fish. This year’s tournament had a 92.9% release rate.

The 2009 White Marlin Open Grad Champion is John Dougherty who fished aboard the “Outrage.” John had 3 white marlin releases and 1 blue marlin release. The top boat is “Viking 68″ with 10 white marlin releases.