A mammoth blue marlin reeled in during a classic deep-sea fishing tournament has garnered a grand prize of $6.2 million.
The vast reward establishes a new world record—breaking the one set during the same Ocean City, Maryland, event last year, which saw a payout of $4.45 million.
The winner, John Ols, from Laytonsville, Maryland, fished aboard Floor Reel, one of 400 boats that competed in this year’s tourney—the 50th annual White Marlin Open.
Mr. Ols’s marlin tipped the scales at 640.5 pounds (approx. 290.5 kilograms), measuring 118 inches (approx. 299 centimeters) long, on the last day of the five-day contest as it concluded on Friday, Aug. 11.
Floor Reel is the third consecutive Ocean City boat to take home the top prize in the prestigious event.
Until Mr. Ols’s colossal catch, during the week the biggest billfish had not been biting. Although the open announced that 551 white marlins and 46 blue marlins were reeled in (the vast majority were released), only three billfish were brought to the scales and only two weighed.
Among them, a 67.5-pound (approx. 30.6 kilograms) white marlin just missed qualifying, while a blue marlin fell short of the 114-inch (approx. 289.5-centimeter) minimum length by just 2 inches (5 centimeters).
After reeling in his huge fish on Friday, Mr. Ols waited three hours to have it weighed that evening. As the only eligible billfish, it reaped the category’s entire $6.2 million reward. Mr. Ols’s catch exceeded last year’s winner in size by more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms).
This year’s White Marlin Open is the fourth time in the event’s 50-year history that no white marlin filled the winning categories—the other years were 1984, 1985, and 1986.
Billed as the “World’s Largest and Richest Billfishing Tournament,” the challenge has seen $95 million awarded since its inauguration in 1974. It has drawn 114,000 anglers and 15,500 registered boats over the past half-century.
In order to register, anglers must pay $100,000 to compete in all levels for a chance to win prize money exceeding $10 million.
The title “White Marlin Capital of the World” was bestowed on Ocean City by President Franklin Roosevelt after a great day marlin fishing in the newly-formed Ocean City Inlet in 1939.
