Ocean City Events
White Marlin Open 2024: Day One- Talk of the Tuna
By Katie RuskeyAugust 5, 20243 min read
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Waiting Out the Weather
Tropical Storm Debby seems to be making her way up towards OC making offshore conditions harsh.
Of 318 boats that registered today, day 1, 200 boats decided to brave the wind. Sunny skies here on shore with light winds at the inlet didn’t seem to be a problem, but offshore conditions are historically much worse.
Opening Scales with Scott Lenox
Spectators wait for the big fish to come to the scales at The Reel Inn,
Scales opened at 4pm with Scott Lenox of You Tube show, Hooked on OC, opened the live broadcast at 3:15 for sponsorship acknowledgements and time to pump up the crowd before boats arrived.
It’s Time for Tuna
Julie Puschak Felpel - Waiting on the boats to return for the day at the White Marlin Open!
Around 5:30pm we finally saw some boats arriving through the inlet- with no flags to show for the day. As 6pm came, boats paraded through the inlet with a few flags flying. People cheered on land as they passed and waved. Finally at 6:30pm Following Seas brought in the first fish of the tournament a tuna weighing in at 56.2 pounds. Just after that The Right Place came in yielding a 166.5 pound tuna. JuJu from St.Petersberg, Florida got to the scales around 7 and weighed in a 79.5 pound tuna taking themselves to 2nd place. In the meantime MJ’s waited patiently outside of the marina with a few big eye tuna on board! The MJ’s came in taking over 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place tunas. The captain confirmed they had all 4 big eye tuna on at the same time! The MJ’s also had a blue marlin release. At 7:45pm only one more boat had reported a boat coming to the scales. With only an hour and a half left until closing of the scales, it seemed like a waiting game at this point. CTRL-ALT-DEL came in hard at the end with two tuna at 178.5 and 153 pounds at 8:20 giving spectators something to see before the scales close for the evening. By the time 9:15 came on the first day of the tournament, CTRL-ALT-DEL had a tuna worth $1.9 million, The Right Place had a tuna worth $4.2 million, and MJ’s had a tuna worth $346,000.
View the Current Tournament Standings and Payouts
Overall a slow day of fishing which was mirrored at the scales. Here’s to hoping that day 2 brings in that first marlin to the scales!About Katie Ruskey
Katie Ruskey is a local author, splitting her time between Baltimore and Ocean City. Her debut fiction novel, Marlin Week, was released in August 2022 based on three captains that fish in the infamous White Marlin Open. Her first children's book, The A B Seas of Ocean City, Maryland takes young readers on a tour of OC. For more information on how to purchase her books, visit her website www.kruskeyauthor.com or follow her on IG/FB at Katherine Ruskey Author.
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