OCEAN CITY- The 5th Annual Ocean City Marlin Club Rockfish Tournament returns next weekend with a nine-day event.
The Marlin Club’s 5th annual rockfish tournament will run from December 8 to December 17. Boats and teams of anglers will decide to fish five of the nine days. As the name of the tournament implies, rockfish, or striped bass, will be the primary species targeted along with red drum and blue fish.
The top three heaviest fish in each category will win awards and federal minimum size requirements apply for each species. A portion of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Jimmy Fund. No rockfish may be caught outside the three-mile line demarking federal waters, but a new twist added last year will allow anglers to move and down the coast to find the stripers. For the first time this year, there will be no northern boundary and no southern boundary, meaning a participating boat could ostensibly make a run up to Cape May, for example, as long as the three-mile federal waters line was observed.
Event organizers also raised the stakes last year. The top prize had been $1,000, but it was doubled last year to a guaranteed $2,000. There will also be a gift basket valued at $500, including fishing gear and other merchandize from the tournament’s sponsors, given to the winner in the highest stringer weight division. The event will go on for nine days beginning next Saturday.
