Glass calm, and the fleet went. 179 boats ran offshore Wednesday for Day Three of the 35th MidAtlantic — 116 out of Ocean City, 63 out of Cape May — on the kind of seas that make you forget Monday ever happened.
The board moved. Not everywhere. But where it counts.
ReelVille breaks the white marlin logjam
For two straight days the white marlin category had one fish on it and two empty slots underneath. That ended the moment the scales opened.
Second evening in a row a boat was already tied up waiting at 5:00 p.m. Captain Dale Plummer had his Ocean City-based ReelVille at Sunset Marina with a white for angler Brian Plummer. It taped 71¾ inches and hit 78 pounds — second place in the category, and the first company Boss Hogg has had all week.
Howard Berger’s Boss Hogg still leads with the 80-pounder angler Paul Hannum weighed Tuesday. Third place is still vacant.
Two fish. Two pounds between them. And in this tournament, that gap is worth more than most people’s houses — the calcutta math we walked through Tuesday is exactly why.
The blue marlin bite is chasing the record book
Moments after ReelVille cleared the scale, Adrian Holler’s Sea Striker out of Morehead City, North Carolina pulled up in Ocean City with a blue stretched across the cockpit. It measured 111 inches and weighed 488 pounds — third place.
The Rumson, New Jersey-based Shark Byte still leads the category at 599 pounds, with Cape May’s Mike Yacco aboard MJ’s second at 523.
But the weighed fish aren’t the story here. Put Tuesday’s release numbers against the record book: 49 blue marlin caught in a single day, 46 of them released.
The all-time MidAtlantic record for blue marlin is 68 caught, including 62 released — for an entire week. That was 2021.
This fleet did roughly three-quarters of that in one day, and it still has two more to fish. If the blue bite holds, that milestone falls this week.
Tuna frozen solid
Plenty of tuna crossed the scales Wednesday and several shuffled money around in the port calcuttas, but not one broke into the overall top three.
It still reads Talkin’ Trash at 182, Following Seas at 126, and Spring Mix II at 114 — all three set Tuesday, all three untouched.
Dolphin flipped, wahoo still a ghost
Bart Marchant’s Today’s the Day out of LaPlata, Maryland took over the dolphin lead with a 28-pounder for angler Tyler Compton. Mike King’s Merritt Island, Florida Quick Sweep moved into a tie for second at 27 with angler Alex Stanley, sharing the spot with Dakoda Hawkins’ Charleston, South Carolina Renegade.
And through three full days of fishing, not one wahoo has been weighed. That’s real money sitting untouched with the clock running down.
Release action worth noting
Wednesday’s notable billfish releases: Matt Weber’s Max Bet and Keith Boyd’s Craftsmanship each let five white marlin go. Pat Healey’s Viking 82, Anthony Alves’ Kaarmaa and William Doherty’s Undertaker each released four whites. Michael Reeve’s Pachanga put back four whites and a blue. Dakoda Hawkins’ Renegade released three whites and two blues. Bill Haugland’s Lights Out and Charles Rodriguez’s Par Five each released three whites and a blue. Brian Hammond’s Second Wind released two blues and a white.
That is a lot of billfish going back in the water on a single day — and under this tournament’s points structure, most of those crews didn’t give up a thing to do it.
What’s left
Today is Day Four. One more after that, and the checks get written Friday night.
A large slice of this fleet is still holding its last card — every crew fishes three of the five days — and the MidAtlantic has a long, mean history of the whole thing turning over in the final ninety minutes at the scale.
Standing reminder for Insiders: the MidAtlantic is a private event. Nightly weigh-ins at Sunset Marina and Canyon Club Resort Marina require credentials and are not open to the public. Watch the live feed instead.
Elsewhere on the calendar this week
The Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament is on the water August 19–22, working the same weather window a little farther south. Down in the Gulf, the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club Invitational runs August 20–23 out of Venice, Louisiana. And Leg 1 of the Scrub Island Invitational opens August 24–28 on the North Drop in the BVI.
We’ll report results on all three once they’re official.
Two pounds separate first and second in the white marlin category. Two days left to change it.
See you on the water.