OCEAN CITY- With the high-dollar, high profile White
Marlin Open dispensed with last week, the resort area’s lady anglers get their
turn in the spotlight this week with the return of the Poor Girl’s Open, which
got underway yesterday with the first full day of fishing.
Now in its 17th year, the Poor Girls Open,
which typically falls on the weekend after the White Marlin Open, was founded
in 1994 by the late Captain Steve Harman and his wife Pam to a provide a
ladies-only fishing event with the proceeds donated to a local charity. In recent
years, the American Cancer Society has been the recipient of choice in
conjunction with other “pink ribbon” events held in and around the resort area
all year long.
In the last three years alone, the Poor Girls Open has
raised over $100,000 for the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer research
and awareness programs. In addition to the fishing, the event includes silent
auctions, 50-50 raffles, T-shirt sales and other events, all at tournament
headquarters at Bahia Marina in Ocean City.
Despite its charitable overtones, the tournament is all
about the fishing and the dozens of boats and hundreds of competitors take it
very seriously. The tournament is a catch-and-release event with points awarded
for billfish releases. There are also added entry levels for tuna and dolphin
with potential winning fish weighed each day of the tournament at host Bahia
Marina.
Teams of lady anglers must choose to fish one of the three
officials fishing days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Last year, the team on
the “D.A. Sea” took top honors in the release division with two white marlin
and two blue marlin releases and were awarded the tournament’s top prize of
$25,613. The team on the “Pumpin’ Hard 66” took first place in the tuna
division, while the crew aboard the “Predator” took first in the dolphin
division.