OCEAN CITY — The angler who caught the first white marlin of the summer season from a vessel out of Ocean City enjoyed a big payday on Monday with a $6,000 check presented by the Fishermen United of Ocean City in the afternoon, followed by a presentation of the town’s $5,000 check later in the evening.
Angler David Taylor, second from left, is pictured with Fishermen United of Ocean City representatives Rolfe Gudelsky of Ocean City Fishing Center, Mary Jock of the Coastal Fisherman, Shawn Harman of Bahia Marina, Brian Tinkler of Sunset Marina and Atlantic Tackle and Earl Conley of the Bank of Ocean City.
Captain David Taylor of the Reel Buster out of Sunset Marina caught the first white marlin of the season by a boat out of Ocean City on June 17 and was set to receive the town of Ocean City’s renewed $5,000 prize along with the $6,000 prize put together by the Fishermen United of Ocean City, a coalition of local business owners with an interest in offshore fishing. Around noon on Monday, Taylor accepted the symbolic big check from the Fishermen United of Ocean City during a special presentation appropriately at the white marlin fountain and plaza at the foot of the Route 50 bridge.
Later on Monday, Taylor and his wife Diane accepted the $5,000 big check from the Mayor and Council at City Hall at the start of the regular council meeting. The Ocean City Marlin Club’s annual $5,000 prize for the first white marlin by a club member will go to the Fish Whistle, which caught and released its white marlin the day before Taylor’s catch on June 17. Because the Fish Whistle is based out of the Indian River Inlet in Delaware, it was not eligible for the town’s prize or the Fishermen United of Ocean City’s prize, but did qualify for the Marlin Club’s annual prize as a club member boat.
Mayor Rick Meehan presented the check to the Taylors at the start of Monday’s council meeting.
“This is one of those occasions we look forward to every summer and especially this year,” he said. “We want to acknowledge the first white marlin caught off the coast of Ocean City.”
The two check presentations on Monday came after considerable drama over the annual award for the first white marlin of the year this spring which resulted in the enhanced prize package. During budget deliberations in April, the Ocean City Mayor and Council briefly eliminated the town’s $5,000 prize for the first white marlin of the year after a couple of decades under the assumption it had lost its luster and no one really cared much about it anymore.
Back from left, are City Council members Dennis Dare, Wayne Hartman, John Gehrig, Lloyd Martin, Mary Knight, Matt James and Tony DeLuca, and, front, are Diane and Dave Taylor and Mayor Rick Meehan. Photos by Bethany Hooper, above, and Doug Miller
When the word got out that the town had decided to eliminate the annual $5,000 prize, the backlash from the resort’s fishing community was immediate. A coalition of various businesses called Fishermen United of Ocean City rallied to put together its own prize package for the first white marlin of the season to fill the void totaling $6,000 to go along with Marlin Club’s annual $5,000 contribution if the angler is a club member.
A week later, after receiving a blitz of phone calls and emails from the resort’s fishing community, the Mayor and Council voted to restore the town’s annual $5,000 prize for the first white marlin of the season and moved the contribution to the tourism department’s budget. With the town’s $5,000 prize restored and the business community’s $6,000 contribution left intact, the angler who caught the first white marlin of the season now stood to win at least $11,000 and the total could swell to $16,000 if the angler was a Marlin Club member.
For his part, Taylor explained the circumstances of how he ended up on the business end of the fishing rod when he caught the first white marlin of the year in the Poor Man’s Canyon around noon on June 17.
“It was a very foggy day, one of those hairy days,” he said. “We got out there and got to our second spot and caught a tuna almost immediately. We came back to the same spot and caught a second tuna. A crewmember said ‘Captain, would you like to take the next fish’ and I said ‘sure, I’d be glad to.”
A short time later, a fish hit one of the rods and Taylor was on the reel.
“Lo and behold we saw a little color and thought it was a big shark,” he said. “When it came up a little farther, we said big tuna and then I saw the bill come up and I said ‘grab that fish.’ It was pretty much a Cinderella story. We didn’t expect that.”
Meehan said he was happy to have the Sunset Marina-based Reel Buster have the honors of catching and releasing the first white marlin.
“He’s fishing here all summer long,” he said. “It’s great to have somebody with a local connection going out and catching that first white marlin.”
