White & Blue Marlin Come to the Scales on Day 3

Image courtesy WMO

Day 3 at the White Marlin Open started with 277 boats heading to the deep water off the Ocean City coast. When the scales opened at 4pm at Harbour Island Marina – there were boats waiting to weigh in their catches – starting with the first blue marlin of the tournament, which was brought in on the Bet Max out of Vero Beach, Florida. The blue was caught by Kelly Weber and weighed in at 607.5 pounds.

The next two boats each had the first boated white marlins of the tournament. The Risky Business was the first white marlin, but fell short of the qualifying length by a half inch!

The Bull Pen out of Charleston, SC arrived next with another white marlin – which made the length and weighed in at 70 pounds to sit at the top of the leaderboard. The white marlin was caught by James Hood of Charleston, SC. The Bull Pen also flew 4 white marlin release flags.

Tuna took over for several hours – until the Gray Fox from Mantoloking, NJ weighed in a 179 pound big-eye to take over the top spot in that division. John Wardlaw of Brielle, NJ was the angler. The Speculator from Palm Beach, FL, arrived a short time later with a 146.5 pound big eye caught by Rob Leerink of Boston, which currently holds 2nd place.

The first wahoo of the tournament came to the scales on Wednesday, but did not make qualifying weight.

Quite a few mahi were brought to the scales on Day 3 with several hitting the leaderboard. Today’s the Day from LaPlata, MD came in with three mahi – two non-qualifiers, but the third, caught by Ryan Jones of Welcome, MD, weighed in at 45 pounds and now sits at the top spot for Dolphin.

There are three days of fishing left in the tournament. The 53rd White Marlin Open ends Saturday.