Tuesday Night at the White Marlin Open

Type: Ocean
Region: Eastern
Location: Ocean City

I enjoy getting down the Ocean City White Marlin occasionally for the change in scenery and there is always interesting people watching at the weigh-in! Crowds have been gathering here for years to catch a glimpse of prize-winning White Marlin, Blue Marlin, Bigeye Tuna and other species.

I worked Tuesday night, August 5th. One or two DNR biologists are on site each evening to make sure that marlin and sharks are tagged and the associated cards are filled out with boat name, Highly Migratory Species (HMS) permit holder name, HMS permit number, fish length and fish weight. We also tag Bluefin Tuna, but bluefin are very rare in August at the Open.

Tuesday night turned out to be a relatively slow night at the weigh-in scale. Out of 288 boats registered, only 66 fished on Tuesday, while the rest "Layed-in" at the dock. I speculated that some boats stayed in due to Tropical Storm Bertha passing offshore. However, the word on the dock was that sea conditions were not too bad (5-6 feet max), and fishable, especially for the larger boats.

The one White Marlin landed was on the boat BAR South (Boat #15). The fish was landed by an angler from Baltimore. Lower jaw fork length was 67.5 in, weight 67 lbs. The fish did not meet the minimum weight category to qualify for the White Marlin category in the tournament leaderboard. The fish was dissected by graduate students Kate Fingles and Samantha Lucas, working in Dr. Ann Barse's lab at Dept. of Biological Sciences, Salisbury University. Dr. Barse is studying natural parasites found in White Marlin, usually in the gill area. The fish was then filleted and steaked, and the meat was donated to local homeless shelters.

In addition to the White Marlin, there was one large Wahoo, 5-6 Dolphin, and 1 or 2 Bigeye Tuna. No sharks or Blue Marlin.

I would expect more much more activity at the weigh-in on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (August 6-8).