A Virginia Beach boat reeled in a 95-pound tuna on Tuesday at the White Marlin Open that could be worth more than $1.8 million if it stays atop the leaderboard.
Tommy Farella, an angler from New Smyrna Beach, Florida, won the battle with the fish on Mama C — captained by Rob Mahoney. Mama C’s catch is 40 pounds heavier than the current second-place tuna.
Mama C was among 212 boats fishing on Tuesday during the event’s second day. Tournament officials have extended the usual five-day tournament in Ocean City, Maryland, by two days until Sunday, so the Virginia Beach crew has a five-day wait to see if its fish stays atop the tuna leaderboard. Boats are permitted to fish three days.
The scales closed Tuesday night with the Barbara B, an Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, boat, still leading the blue marlin category and eyeing more than $4.4 million. Drew Osmeyer, of Timonium, Maryland, reeled in the 929.5-pounder.
The tournament’s namesake white marlin is the most lucrative catch, and on Tuesday afternoon Special Situation, a boat that calls Ocean City its home port from June through the fall, brought a white marlin to the scales. But the fish weighed 67 pounds — 3 pounds below the qualifying minimum.
The 52-year-old tournament — billed as the world’s largest and richest offshore billfish tournament — has 282 registered boats and announced an estimated purse for this year of $7.2 million.
Jami Frankenberry, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com.
