The scales closed at 9:15 Saturday night. The polygraphs ran Sunday morning. And this afternoon at the Ocean City Marlin Club, the 53rd White Marlin Open handed out roughly $9.9 million.
Three hundred thirty-four boats fished. Six days, three apiece. And for the first time in the history of this tournament, a boat was waiting at the scales at four o’clock every single day.
The winners
| Division | Weight | Angler | Boat | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Marlin | 80 lbs | Bill Sharpe | Mister Pete | ~$3,500,000 |
| Blue Marlin | 607.5 lbs | Kelly Weber | Max Bet | ~$1,200,000 |
| Tuna | 179 lbs | John Wardlaw | Gray Fox | $1,000,000+ |
| Wahoo | 69.5 lbs | John Wardlaw | Gray Fox | ~$72,000 |
| Dolphin | 45 lbs | Ryan Jones | Today’s the Day | $22,000+ |
| Swordfish | — | No qualifiers | — | — |
Eighty pounds, on the first bite
Bill Sharpe of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina was fishing aboard the Mister Pete out of Charleston on Thursday when the fish ate. It was the first bite of his day.
The boat ran back and was sitting at Harbour Island when the scales opened at four. The fish measured 74.5 inches, cleared the length requirement, and came off the boat. When the jumbo screen flashed 80 pounds, the dock came apart.
That single number moved roughly $3.6 million in projected prize money in the time it took to read it. The Bull Pen — also out of Charleston — had come into Thursday leading the division with James Hood’s 70-pounder and about $5.6 million projected. When Sharpe’s fish landed, Bull Pen dropped to second.
They still cash. That is the thing outsiders never understand about this tournament: with more than 45 Added Entry Levels and every one of them its own separate competition, a boat can lose the lead and still take home a serious check.
One angler, two divisions
John Wardlaw had the week of his life aboard the Gray Fox out of Mantoloking, New Jersey.
Wednesday he weighed a 179-pound bigeye and took the tuna division — worth more than a million dollars.
Thursday he came back and weighed a 69.5-pound wahoo, the only qualifying wahoo of the entire tournament.
Two divisions. Two days. Same angler.
Only one blue marlin qualified all week
Kelly Weber’s 607.5-pound blue aboard the Max Bet was the first billfish weighed in the tournament, first fish across the scale on Wednesday afternoon. It was also the only blue marlin that qualified in six days of fishing. Roughly $1.2 million.
Max Bet is the same boat that raised 51 white marlin in Spencer Canyon the week before the tournament and released 30 of them.
And the number that says the most
Through the first four days alone, 723 white marlin were released. Fifty-one blue marlin were released.
Hundreds of billfish raised, hooked, fought and turned loose — and a handful heavy enough to bring in. That is what makes an 80-pound white marlin worth three and a half million dollars, and it is why this tournament’s conservation record is real rather than decorative.
No qualifying swordfish were weighed this year.
The season does not stop here
Ocean City exhales for about four days and then it starts again. Here is what is coming, and it is a serious month.
Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish Tournament — 37th Annual, August 8–9, Manteo, North Carolina. Runs right now as the opening act of Pirate’s Cove week.
Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament — 43rd Annual, August 8–14, out of Pirate’s Cove Marina in Manteo, North Carolina, with the main event August 10–14. Oregon Inlet puts these boats on Gulf Stream water that produces some of the heaviest blue marlin weighed anywhere on the East Coast. Team Deep Color took 2025 with 2,012.4 points behind an 806.2-pound blue.
Capt. Steve Harman’s Poor Girls Open — August 13–15, out of Bahia Marina right here in Ocean City. Ladies-only billfish release tournament benefiting breast cancer research, with added entry levels for tuna and dolphin. One of the most-loved events on the Ocean City calendar and one of the few where the whole town shows up for reasons that have nothing to do with the money.
The MidAtlantic — 35th Annual, August 16–21. Two ports running simultaneously: Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, New Jersey and Sunset Marina right here in Ocean City, with full weigh-ins at both. Teams pick three of five fishing days and can leave from any inlet between New Jersey and Virginia. In 2025 it drew 198 boats and a $5.75 million purse, and it has paid better than $1.4 million on a single white marlin.
Two weeks from now the same docks will be full again.
We were at the White Marlin Open all six days. We will be at these too.
See you on the water.