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Jan 17, 2024

White Marlin Open begins with 400 boats pursuing record $10.3 million purse

Four hundred boats — including many from Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina — hit the water this week in pursuit of a record $10.3 million in total prize money at the 50th annual White

Four hundred boats — including many from Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina — hit the water this week in pursuit of a record $10.3 million in total prize money at the 50th annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland.

The five-day event, billed as the World’s Largest Billfish tournament, began at 8 a.m. Monday, and each boat is permitted to fish any three of the five days until 3:30 p.m. Most boats head to the Gulf Stream about 75 miles off the Ocean City coast, and Monday’s forecast was expected to be the best of the week, according to a release on the tournament’s website.

More than half of the $10.3 million purse will go to white marlin anglers. The top three white marlin winner-take-all categories are worth $5.5 million, and other categories could push white marlin catches over $6.5 million.

The tournament awarded $8.6 million in prize money last year, including the top prize of $4.53 million to The Billfisher, an Ocean City boat that landed a white marlin weighing 77½ pounds.

Hometown boats have won the tournament’s most lucrative category in back-to-back years after Sushi, an Ocean City boat, won $3.2 million in 2021. Sushi’s victory knocked a Virginia Beach angler from first place in the closing minutes of the tournament.

The tournament has awarded more than $95 million since it began in 1974.

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