Yesterday the white marlin board was empty and 277 boats were on the water trying to fix that.

They fixed it. And then some.

Wednesday at the White Marlin Open produced the first blue marlin, the first white marlin, a new tuna leader, the first wahoo and a new dolphin at the top of its division — all in one afternoon at Harbour Island. It was the day this tournament turned into a tournament.

Four o’clock, and a boat was already waiting

The scales opened and Max Bet was there.

Angler Kelly Weber’s blue marlin cleared the 114-inch minimum and hit the board at 607.5 pounds — the first billfish of the 53rd White Marlin Open. Estimated value: $5.2 million.

Read that again. One fish, one afternoon, more than half the entire purse.

Max Bet is the same boat that raised 51 white marlin in Spencer Canyon the Thursday before the tournament and released 30 of them. They knew where the fish were. They proved it when it counted.

And then the white marlin finally showed

Wednesday evening the Bull Pen backed into Harbour Island with the fish everybody in Ocean City had been waiting three days for.

A 71-inch white marlin, 70 pounds on the nose — the qualifying minimum exactly. Angler James Hood of Charleston, South Carolina.

The Bull Pen came up the channel flying four white marlin release flags on top of it. They did not just find one. They found a pile of them and kept the one that counted.

Tuna got reshuffled again

The 110.5-pound bigeye that led overnight lasted until the Gray Fox out of Mantoloking, New Jersey came in with a 179-pound bigeye, angler John Wardlaw of Brielle. That is a big fish anywhere.

A short time later the Speculator out of Palm Beach arrived with a 146.5-pounder caught by Rob Leerink of Boston, and that sits second.

The first wahoo of the tournament came to the scales Wednesday and did not make qualifying weight.

In dolphin, Today’s the Day out of LaPlata, Maryland brought three mahi. Two did not qualify. The third, caught by Ryan Jones of Welcome, Maryland, weighed 45 pounds and took over the top spot.

Today the math tightens

One hundred forty-eight boats are fishing today.

That is a big drop from 277, and it is not the weather. It is arithmetic. Every boat gets three days out of six. Most of the fleet spent Tuesday and Wednesday, and a lot of them are now holding a single day and deciding when to spend it.

Friday and Saturday are still out there. So is the possibility of sitting today out entirely and going Saturday with everything on the line.

That is the six-day format working exactly the way it was designed to. Nobody is being forced onto bad water, and everybody still has a card to play.

But the board is no longer empty. There is a 70-pound white marlin to beat, a 607.5-pound blue, and a 179-pound bigeye. Every boat that goes out from here knows the number it has to hit.

If you are coming down

Scales at Harbour Island Marina, 14th Street and the bay. Open at 4:00 PM, running to 9:15. Free and open to the public through Saturday.

Marlin Fest on the beach at the Inlet with the weigh-ins on the big screen.

Two days left after today. Nine point nine million dollars still moving around the board.

We are here for all six days.

See you on the water.