OCEAN CITY, Md. — The first qualifying white marlin of the 53rd White Marlin Open reached the scales Wednesday evening, marking the biggest development yet in this year's tournament as leaderboard positions shifted across multiple divisions.
The boat Bullpen brought in the tournament's first qualifying white marlin, a 71-inch fish weighing 70 pounds on Day 3 of the world's largest billfish tournament.
A blue marlin estimated to be worth $5.2 million was first to the scales Wednesday, brought by Max Bet, with angler Kelly Weber making the catch.
Angler Kelly Weber made one of the tournament's biggest catches by bringing a blue marlin estimated to be worth $5.2 million to the scales aboard Max Bet.
The catch headlined another active day offshore, with 277 of the tournament's 334 registered boats fishing Wednesday under the event's new six-day format, which allows teams to fish any three of six days. Tournament officials expanded the schedule this year to provide anglers more flexibility amid increasingly unpredictable offshore weather.
The leaderboard also saw several notable changes Wednesday evening:
- Gray Fox moved into first place in the tuna division with a 179-pound bigeye tuna.
- Speculator climbed to second in the tuna division with a 146.5-pound bigeye.
- Bird Dog held second place in the dolphin division with a 28.5-pound mahi.
- Viking 82 remained in contention in the dolphin category with a 27-pound mahi.
The action followed a busy Day 2, when anglers caught and released 301 white marlin and 16 blue marlin.
With three fishing days still available for many crews under the expanded tournament format, organizers said Wednesday's weigh-in demonstrated how quickly the standings can change during tournament week.
