with Scott Lenox

The 50th anniversary of the White Marlin Open has come and gone, and it was an absolutely awesome week with a record-breaking purse and a recordbreaking payout There was only one qualifying billfish all week, but there were wahoo, mahi and literally tons of tuna, and at the end of the week there were some big checks The 50th Anniversary of the White Marlin Open will be remembered for two things The overwhelming amount of tuna that included several bigeye over 200 pounds and the huge payout received by the one blue marlin that would qualify The largest bigeye of the tournament was caught by the Reel Tight and won over $1 million, but the highest paid bigeye of the White Marlin Open didn’t even crack the top three The RoShamBo with Captain Willie Zimmerman caught a 215-pound bigeye, but because they were the highest ranking boat that was in the $50,000 buy-in Anniversary Calcutta, they won over $1 7 million in prize money

On Friday, the final day of fishing, team Floor Reel brought in a 118”, 640 5 pound blue marlin that would take every billfish place and a lot of money Captain “Big Wave” Dave Warren and his crew received a check on Saturday for over $6 2 million

Congratulations to all the winners of the White Marlin Open and congratulations to Jim Motsko and his family on 50 years

Outside of the tourney, things are about the same with slow to moderate sea bass fishing with some good flounder fishing going on Anglers fishing over ocean structure anywhere from 50 to 100 feet of water are doing well with flounder up to as large as 8 5 pounds Jigging bucktails with Gulp or Otter Tails or drifting the Deadly Tackle Squidly rig have been productive techniques for catching some good flounder in the ocean Back bay flounder fishing has been good on the high tide where the cleanest water can be found Larger fish are being caught on live spot and bunker, while throwbacks and some keepers are being caught on Deadly Doubles with Gulp, Otter Tails and live minnows

The Poor Girls Open at Bahia Marina is going on this weekend and then it’s right into the MidAtlantic Tournament Until next week, tight lines

(The writer is the owner of Fish in OC and host of Ocean City’s fishing television show Hooked on OC He has worked in the fishing industry and been fishing the waters in and around Ocean City for over 25 years.)

SEE PAGES 54-55