A boat based in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, braved rough seas offshore to land a blue marlin that weighed more than 900 pounds on the opening day of the White Marlin Open.
The 929.5-pounder was reeled in on the Barbara B by angler Drew Osmeyer, of Timonium, Maryland, and could be worth more than $4.4 million if it stays atop the leaderboard, according to the tournament’s Instagram account and website. The fish was 130 inches long and is the fifth-largest ever weighed at the White Marlin Open, the tournament wrote in a release.
The event has 282 registered boats, but most stayed at the dock Monday awaiting better offshore conditions. The Barbara B was among only 128 boats on the water off Ocean City, Maryland, as the tournament began.
The tournament has extended fishing until Sunday because of expected rough seas early this week, so the Barbara B has a long, six-day wait to see if its blue marlin holds up. Boats are permitted to fish three days, and there could be a lot of jockeying on the leaderboard by the time the scales close Sunday.
The 52-year-old tournament — billed as the world’s largest and richest offshore billfish tournament — announced an estimated purse for this year of $7.2 million.
Also on Monday, the C- Student, a boat based in Southside Place, Texas, brought in a 52.5-pound tuna that could be worth more than $730,000.
On Tuesday morning, 212 boats were fishing.
Jami Frankenberry, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
