There’s nothing better than reeling in a big ole fish, unless landing that big catch means that you win millions of dollars.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, a five-day fishing tournament called the White Marlin Open was taking place in Maryland this past weekend, and the 50th edition of the event ended up having quite the payout. Things were looking bleak up with no qualifying billfish being reeled in to win the prize through the first four days, but that all changed on the final day of the event.
On the last day, angler John Ols of Laytonsville, Maryland pulled off a “buzzer beater,” catching a 640 pound blue marlin that ended up taking the grand prize of the White Marlin Open. The big catch ended up being the only billfish eligible to win, and allowed for Ols to take home $6.2 million dollars for the massive marlin.
The total purse for the 50th White Marlin Open was $10.5 million, and the lack of qualifying fish reeled in led to the Maryland fisherman to take home more than half of the available prize money. The event is often considered the “World’s Largest and Richest Billfish Tournament,” and with that kind of payout, I would have to agree.
John Ols was fishing with a group of people aboard a vessel called the Floor Reel, which is a boat that is based out of Ocean City, Maryland. It is apparently the third year in a row that a boat from Ocean City has won the five-day bill fishing event.
The marlin that they brought in measured 9.83 feet in length and weighed just short of 650 pounds. Their catch outweighed last year’s winner (who was paid out $4.45 million) by 100 pounds. Man, I need to start fishing for marlin in Maryland I guess…
The tournament report showed that there were a limited amount of bill fish caught, and only a few of them were actually measured for the tournament’s qualifications:
“While there were unofficially 551 white marlin and 46 blue marlin caught, only three billfish were brought in and only two were weighed.”
Ols and his team had to wait over three hours for their marlin to be weighed, but it was well worth it considering that just one fish ended up bringing in $6 million dollars.
Just seeing the thing hanging next to the group of fishermen is hard to believe:
Hey Siri, look up “how to catch fish and make millions of dollars” near me…
