OCEAN CITY- The Ocean City Marlin Club’s 4th Annual Rockfish Tournament is in the books with the crew on the Bad Oyster weighing the winner early in the nine-day event and hanging on to capture the biggest payout.
The Marlin Club’s fourth annual rockfish tournament got underway back on December 3 and ran for nine days, culminating last Sunday with the final tallies and an awards banquet. Boats and teams of anglers chose to fish five of the nine scheduled days and, as the name of the event implies, rockfish, or striped bass, were the primary species targeted.
Early on the event, the team on the Bad Oyster set the bar rather high with a 33-pound rockfish that measured 45 inches in length and that fish held on to the top spot through the rest of the tournament. When all was said and done, the Bad Oyster’s 33-pounder was worth $4,680 plus the tournament’s guaranteed top prize of $2,000. The Bad Oyster crew also took the top prize in the bluefish category with an 11.8-pounder worth an additional $540.
Finishing second in the signature rockfish division was the crew on the Fish Frenzi with a 25.4-pounder worth $1,512. The crew on the Nontypical took third in the rockfish division with a 22.4-pounder worth $1,008. The Nontypical also won the combined stringer weight category with over 65 pounds worth an additional $1,080. All in all, the Bad Oyster won $7,222, the Nontypical won $2,088 and the Fish Frenzi won $1,512.