People craned their necks and held telephones as much as file video as a gaggle of males regarded on proudly, everybody’s eyes mounted on a scale and a tuna, suspended from its tail by a sequence. It weighed 247.5 kilos or, measured one other approach, $360,000.
The highway to Ocean City begins alongside Eastern Shore state highways lined with gasoline stations promoting dwell bait and finishes with a drawbridge speckled with fisherman. Every August, the journey culminates in a pot of gold known as the White Marlin Open.
What began as a tiny enterprise with few aspirations in 1974 by then-26-year-old Jim Motsko has turn out to be the world’s largest invoice fishing event. It turned 50 this yr and celebrated with a file $10.5 million in numerous prizes.
Anglers — together with NBA legend Michael Jordan competing on the 80-foot yacht Catch 23 (his jersey quantity) — contributed cash towards the pot. They’re all hoping to win it again, after which some.
Fishing concluded Friday and lie detector checks had been scheduled for Saturday (massive winners are requested in the event that they’ve damaged any certainly one of an intensive record of guidelines). Typically, the majority of the prize cash goes to the one that catches the biggest white marlin, however no qualifying white marlin had been caught this yr. Instead, John Ols of Laytonsville in Montgomery County netted the highest prize of $6.2 million, a world file purse for a fish, for himself and his crew. Ols caught a blue marlin that weighed 640.5 kilos.
The grand prize is a bigger lump sum than the highest payout of any Grand Slam tennis event, any PGA Tour main championship and any Triple Crown horse race.
“To win it was like winning the Super Bowl, for us in fishing,” stated Jeremy Duffie of Bethesda, who took dwelling the grand prize final yr.
Part fishing competitors, half boat present, half social gathering and all spectacle, 1000’s compete within the White Marlin yearly and tens of 1000’s attend occasions through the week. A crowd gathered Wednesday, the third of the event’s 5 days, on the scales the place anglers weigh the day’s catch.
Boats selected three of 5 attainable weekdays (from Aug. 7 to Aug. 11 this yr) to fish, principally based mostly upon climate forecasts. Of the 400 boats, 383 picked Wednesday.
Most, nonetheless, needn’t weigh something upon their return. It’s tough to catch prize fish and plenty of are returned to the ocean after failing to satisfy sure necessities in a 12-page, single-spaced rule ebook. For instance, 551 white marlin had been unofficially caught on this yr’s open, however none met the event’s standards of at the least 70 kilos and 70 inches and thus had been launched. It marked the fourth time within the occasion’s historical past that no qualifying white marlin had been caught.
Those watching the weigh-ins, a lot of who clutched an alcoholic drink, waited patiently Wednesday for large fish to reach, shouting their assist. “Way to go!” one known as to a younger angler who introduced in his first ever tuna. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” performed because the throng anticipated the weighing of a tuna.
Big fish get massive applause; small fish obtain smaller.
For a long time, Ocean City has been dubbed the “White Marlin Capital of the World.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously fished for marlin within the space in 1939 and experiences on the time indicated he’d caught two in a single weekend. That was later corrected: he didn’t catch any, although Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins did.
Ocean City grew to become identified for the fish, which is revered amongst anglers for its dimension and power. A White Marlin Tournament was hosted in 1959, however it wasn’t till 1974 that the White Marlin Open started.
It wasn’t a lot at first, simply 57 boats and $20,000. Motsko started the event in hopes that he may win it himself — and, in doing so, pay for different fishing ventures.
There was dangerous climate that first yr and an article in The Evening Sun described issues that might have “easily” made it a “disaster.” Some stated it could make marlin fishing too industrial; others stated it could destroy Ocean City’s popularity as a spot for fishing for trophies — not money.
“Just the fact a second White Marlin Open is planned comes as somewhat of a surprise,” the article stated.
Half a century later, the event continues and the Motsko household acquired citations Monday from Congress and the state of Maryland to honor the event’s 50 years. Now, the Motsko identify is synonymous with marlin.
Although Madelyne Motsko, Jim’s daughter and the event’s director, will get seasick and can’t fish offshore herself, she considers it her household’s legacy.
“There’s nothing else like it,” stated Jacob Wainglass, a 24-year-old Baltimore native who now lives in Ocean City and participates within the event every year.
He broke his leg two months in the past, however stated earlier than the event that his leg now felt “good enough to go fishing.” And there he was Wednesday, regardless of his therapeutic leg, pushing a tuna in a wheelbarrow towards the scales.
The typical boat competing within the event has a captain, who owns the vessel; a mate, who, like Wainglass, takes care of it and infrequently leads fishing efforts, and a number of other anglers, like Michael Jordan. Mates are sometimes tasked with monitoring reels after which, once they really feel a chunk, deciding when to hook the fish. It requires ready a number of seconds — precisely how lengthy is an artwork, not a science — for the fish to eat the bait earlier than tightening the road.
Once hooked, the mate can move the rod to an angler, who “from that time on, shall fight the fish alone until boated or released,” per the foundations. That can take hours. The boat drives round whereas the angler, both standing or sitting in what’s known as the preventing chair (which might swivel, has a footrest and is constructed into the boat), makes an attempt to reel it in.
A fishing boat can change from calm to frenzied in a matter of seconds.
Tommy Hinkle, a Baltimore native who lives in Ocean City and teaches math, is the one particular person to have twice gained the White Marlin Open (in 2008 and 2019). He stated it’s essential to make use of the “motion of the boat” whereas reeling in a fish.
“When the boat goes up, your line is tight. When it goes down, that’s when you’re reeling to get some of that line back,” he stated. “It’s not just using brute strength to bring the fish in. There’s a lot more tactical aspects of it, especially when you’re dealing with white marlin. You have to be able to feel the fish.”
Boats set off earlier than daybreak, might not stray farther than 100 nautical miles and may solely fish from 8 a.m. to three:30 p.m. Then, qualifying fish are weighed till 9:15 p.m.
Anglers can then hold their prize fish or donate it to the Maryland Food Bank, which companions with a flash freeze firm to instantly lower the fish into filets — proper in entrance of the gathered crowd — earlier than they’re frozen and distributed on the Eastern Shore.
The weighing course of is raucous and thrilling, however the event’s buoyant spirit provides approach Saturday to the intense enterprise of lie detector checks. Anyone successful greater than $50,000 is topic to a polygraph as a way to curb dishonest.
At an Ohio event final yr, two anglers had been caught stuffing fish with weights. And on the White Marlin Open in 2016, the winner of the marquee white marlin class — and the almost $3 million that got here with it — failed a polygraph and forfeited the winnings. That choice landed in federal court docket, the place a decide discovered the winner had violated event guidelines.
The spectacle, in the meantime, continues to broaden and lately, the occasion outgrew its dock. For the third straight yr, a satellite tv for pc MarlinFest came about on Ocean City’s inlet, within the shadow of Trimper Rides amusement park. Complete with distributors and a dwell band atop a bar, a whole lot gathered alongside the breakwall to look at the boats stream in from their offshore ventures.
For some attendees, the hope of catching a glimpse of Jordan was prime of thoughts. For others, it was to proceed a decadeslong trip custom.
“It’s a good vibe,” defined Natalie Furia, who circles the date on her calendar and yearly drives from Pennsylvania along with her household.
Sport fishing is the first enchantment for some, however for others, it’s merely the festivities. Even when boats come again with their coolers deplete of massive fish, anglers usually have a koozie with a beer in it.
“The party’s ready to start now,” one attendee stated because the weighing course of slowed down.
Boatspotting attracts others. Anyone can compete within the White Marlin Open, however it takes vital capital to personal a ship (to not point out the charges to enter, which start at $1,300 and may climb into the tens of 1000’s). Many of the boats are price thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
Ralph DeFalco of Annapolis introduced his younger kids to the ocean at 2:45 a.m. to look at the boats set off.
“You’re talking almost a billion dollars in boats,” he stated. “They’re the most magnificent things I’ve ever seen. Up close, they’re phenomenal.”
So, too, are the fish, within the eyes of those that stand, shoulder-to-shoulder, craning their necks to witness the weigh-ins.
As the gang grew bigger and extra keen Wednesday evening, occasion employees repeatedly sought to rein within the excitable throng and clear a strolling path. But these gathered weren’t centered on that. There was a fish coming in. And they wished to see how a lot it weighed.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com