Bill Sharpe’s first bite of the day was worth more than most boats in the harbor.
The Mister Pete out of Charleston, South Carolina was sitting at Harbour Island when the scales opened at four o’clock Thursday — the fourth day in a row a boat was already waiting. Their white marlin measured 74.5 inches, cleared the length requirement, and came off the boat.
Eighty pounds. New leader of the 53rd White Marlin Open.
Sharpe, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, said it was the first bite of the day.
Ten pounds that changes everything
That 80-pounder knocks the Bull Pen’s 70-pound fish off the top — the one that had held the spot for exactly one day after breaking the tournament’s three-day white marlin drought.
Seventy pounds is the bare minimum to qualify. Eighty is a real fish. In this tournament the difference between those two numbers is measured in millions.
One other white marlin came to the scales Thursday and it is the kind of thing that keeps crews up at night. Team OHM had a fish that met the 70-inch length requirement — and weighed 64 pounds. Six pounds short. Long enough, not heavy enough, nothing to show for it.
That is white marlin fishing. The fish that pays is a very specific animal.
Gray Fox does it two days running
On Wednesday, John Wardlaw weighed a 179-pound bigeye aboard the Gray Fox out of New Jersey and took over the tuna division.
On Thursday he came back and weighed a 69.5-pound wahoo — the first qualifying wahoo of the tournament and, so far, the only one on the board.
Two categories, two days, same angler. Leading one division and owning another outright.
The Bill Collector arrived just after seven with a dolphin that moved into second place in that category. No change in the blue marlin division, where Max Bet’s 607.5-pounder still sits.
The number nobody talks about
Here is the statistic that tells you what is actually happening offshore.
Through four days of the 53rd White Marlin Open, 723 white marlin have been released. Fifty-one blue marlin have been released.
Seven hundred twenty-three. And exactly two of them were heavy enough to weigh.
That is the whole tournament in one line. The fish are out there in numbers most people would not believe. Finding one is not the hard part. Finding one that goes 70 pounds and 70 inches is a different job entirely, and almost nobody gets it done.
It is also why this tournament’s release ethic is real rather than decorative. Those 723 fish swam away.
Today: 237 boats and the clock running out
Two hundred thirty-seven boats went out this morning — up from 148 on Thursday and the second-biggest turnout of the week.
That is the arithmetic of the six-day format arriving all at once. Boats holding their last day are spending it now, and the ones sitting out today are betting everything on Saturday.
The number to beat is 80 pounds. Everybody knows it. Every crew that raises a white today is looking at it and doing the same math in their head, and most of them are going to let it go.
One day left after this one.
If you are coming down
Scales at Harbour Island Marina, 14th Street and the bay. Open 4:00 PM to 9:15, free, through Saturday. Marlin Fest on the beach at the Inlet with the weigh-ins on the big screen.
If you have been meaning to get down there all week, this is it. Tonight and tomorrow.
We are here for all six days.
See you on the water.