OCEAN CITY- The Ocean City Marlin Club’s 38th Annual Small Boat Tournament gets underway on Saturday with the first of two fishing days.
With several major offshore tournaments looming later this summer, some of the smaller boats in the resort’s sportfishing fleet will get their chance in the spotlight this weekend with the Ocean City Marlin Club’s 38th Annual Small Boat Tournament. The Marlin Club’s annual Small Boat Tournament provides an opportunity for smaller boats to compete in a tournament before the bigger events such as the Ocean City Tuna Tournament and the White Marlin Open arrive on the summer fishing calendar.
Participating boats must decide to fish one of two fishing days, Saturday or Sunday, with daily weigh-ins the Sunset Marina in West Ocean City from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. As its name implies, the Small Boat Tournament is open to all boats with a length of 34 feet or under. The event is divided into two divisions; the Offshore Division and the Inshore Division. Inshore, participating anglers will target flounder, sea bass, tog, bluefish and rockfish. The offshore division targets tuna, dolphin, shark and billfish, the latter of which will be recorded and released in a points division.
Last year in the offshore division, the “Offshore Addition” took first- and third-place in the dolphin division and earned a tournament-high $3,087 in prize money. The “Opportunity Nox” took second in the dophin division and earned $513. In the tuna division, it was the “Brenda Lou” taking first place with a 33-pounder worth $1,710.
In the Inshore Division, it was the “Lucky Break” taking first in the flounder division, while the “Jezebel” took second and the “Joken” took third. The “Joken” swept the tog division, while the “Jezebel” swept the sea bass division.
