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Wednesday, August 09, 2017

Rough Seas Turn White Marlin Open Into Three-Day Tourney

OCEAN CITY — Rough seas offshore and strong storms inshore have essentially turned the 44th Annual White Marlin Open into what will become a three-day shootout with a wide open leaderboard and over $4 million in prize money at stake.

Just 136 of the registered 353 boats fished on Monday, the tournament’s first day, and netted scattered results with a decent tuna and wahoo on the board but no billfish. On Tuesday, the weather improved on shore, but the seas were expected to be even worse than Monday, resulting in just 12 boats trying their luck on day two.

With each of the 353 registered boats choosing to fish three of the five days, that equals 1,059 total “boat days.” However, through the first two days, just 148 boat days have been expended, leaving over 900 over the tournament’s last three days.

On Monday, most of the 136 boats that made a go of it enjoyed a decent ride out to the canyons, but conditions deteriorated rapidly during the day. The seas were running two- to three-feet around 8:30 a.m. on Monday when lines could officially dropped, but about an hour later, the winds picked up to 15-20 knots and the seas rose to five feet and building, according to WMO officials. Later in the day when most of the 136 boats were heading in, the winds had picked up to 40 knots with higher gusts and the seas worsened to 12 to 15 feet.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

12 to 15 foot seas. Now that right there is chumming weather. Been out there in 8-10 foot seas before, and it is an unpleasant experience. The three hour trip to the canyons become a 4-6 hour trip back.

Anonymous said...

Was very chilly down on the docks Monday/Tues. MUCHO better today with lots of sun, wind not as bad in the bay but probably still a chop from the north 25-30 miles out.

Should be a fun evening when boats coming in with their catch! Spirits already flowing!!!!!

Anonymous said...

They'er supposed to be real sportsman, not babies! Get out there and fish, quit complaining about some bad weather and ruff seas! Real men don't!
I know duck hunters that never give up!

Anonymous said...


Something fishy about this post!