OCEAN CITY- Local fisherman Devon Rasmus caught the first white marlin of the season by a junior angler last week and was rewarded with the Charles E. Kratz Award including a trophy and a $500 prize.
Rasmus was fishing on the “White Lightning” with Captain Luke Blume and mate John Griffith last Thursday morning when the caught and released the white marlin around 9:30 a.m. Rasmus was honored with the Charles E. Kratz Award for the first white marlin of the season hooked by a junior angler off the coast of Ocean City. The annual award is awarded to the first white marlin caught by a junior angler that is a member of the Ocean City Marlin Club or by someone fishing on a member boat.
Incidentally, local fishing enthusiasts will recall Kratz was the skipper on the “Five C’s,” the fishing boat that landed the largest white marlin ever caught in the state of Maryland. The whopping 135-pounder was caught by angler George Pierson aboard the “Five C’s” back in 1980 with Kratz at the helm. It is now permanently displayed at the foot of the Boardwalk after Kratz donated it to the town in 2008.