OCEAN CITY- The 30th annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament is underway with dozens of boats and hundreds of anglers descending on the resort for a three-day search for the burly behemoths in the canyons off the coast.
The tuna bite has been rock solid thus far this summer, setting up what should be a memorable 2017 Ocean City Tuna Tournament. The event got started on Thursday with a captain’s meeting and late registration at the host Ocean City Fishing Center, but the real action gets underway today with the first of three official fishing days.
The annual Ocean City Tuna Tournament is one of the highlights of the summer offshore tournament seasons each year, second only perhaps to the White Marlin Open in terms of prize money awarded and anglers participating. Thousands of spectators will cram into the Ocean City Fishing Center over the course of the four-day event, which has become a celebration of fishing, food, drinks, live entertainment and, of course, the daily weigh-ins at the scale. Weigh-ins will be held on Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Ocean City Fishing Center and Sunset Marina, and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Fishing Center only.
From modest beginnings in 1988 when just 38 boats competed for $9,000 in prize money, the tuna tournament has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades plus. Last year, dozens of boats and hundreds of anglers competed for over $625,000 in several categories.
