Lone Qualifying White Marlin Wins $1.2M; Heaviest Blue Marlin Worth $511K

OCEAN CITY — After a remarkably slow start, the 2014 hits its stride by mid-week last week with the big money fish in the two glamour divisions hitting the scale on Thursday.

The tuna division was all wrapped up on Monday of Marlin Week, as was the shark division. The winning wahoo was caught on Tuesday and the winning dolphin was caught on Wednesday, but going in to last Thursday with most boats still having two fishing days remaining, the drama in the white marlin and blue marlin divisions unfolded in a couple of hours.

There were 411 white marlin caught and released during the tournament with just 12 boated and brought to the scale, for a 97-percent release rate. On day one alone, there were 100 white marlin caught and released, setting a tone for the first three days of the tournament. A handful were weighed and came up just short. The same situation played out in the blue marlin division, where a 454-pounder was the very first fish weighed on Monday.

More