OCEAN CITY- The Maryland Saltwater Sportsfishing Association’s 26th Annual Tuna-Ment Tournament last weekend was a big success with plenty of tuna caught and weighed.
The MSSA’s 26th Annual Tuna-Ment was held throughout the region with weigh stations at Indian River, Sunset Marina in West Ocean City and Chincoteague. As the name implies, tuna was the targeted species and the event didn’t disappoint with a 214-pound bigeye taking the top prize. The local boat “Billfisher” took second overall and swept all of the stringer categories to win the top cash prize.
In the main tournament, it was Captain Jim Gray fishing out of Chincoteague taking first place with a 214-pound bigeye tuna. Captain Jon Duffie and the “Billfisher” crew out of Ocean City took second with a 200-pound bigeye, while Captain Dave Paugh out of Chincoteague took third with a 60-pound bigeye.
In the $50 two-fish stringer category, Duffie and the “Billfisher” crew took first with a 253.2-pound string including the 200-pound bigeye and a 53.2-pound yellowfin. Gray’s 214-pound bigeye took second in the two-fish stringer division. Duffie’s 253.2-pound stringer also took first in each of the other stringer categories, netting the prolific local boat the tournament’s top cash prize haul at $12,867.
Gray took second overall with $8,137 in prize money, while Paugh was third with $1,980. Harry Miller out of Ocean City took fourth overall with $1,120 in prize money. Miller also took first in the dolphin category with a three-fish stringer weighing 45 pounds. Dave Rankin out of Ocean City was fifth overall with $990 in prize money, while Chincoteague’s Rob Pellicot was sixth and earned $480.