OCEAN CITY — The award for the first white marlin of the season caught off the coast of Ocean City is up for grabs this week, and for the second year in a row the potential prize money has been enhanced.
For decades, the town of Ocean City has awarded a $5,000 check to the angler who catches the first recorded white marlin of the season offshore to honor the kick-off of another offshore fishing season and as a nod to the town’s reputation as the White Marlin Capital of the World. While the Town of Ocean City awards a $5,000 check for the first official white marlin of the season, the Ocean City Marlin Club adds a $5,000 contribution of its own if the angler who catches the first white marlin is also a club member.
The combined payout is typically $10,000 as the angler who catches the first white marlin is often on an Ocean City Marlin Club member boat. The award system has been in place for decades, but the long-standing tradition was briefly in jeopardy. During budget deliberations in 2017, a list of supplementary appropriations or requests that don’t fit easily into any other department’s budget was reviewed including the town’s annual $5,000 award for the first white marlin of the season.
The Mayor and Council, attempting to trim the budget in different areas where possible, decided to eliminate the $5,000 annual prize for the first white marlin of the season. Despite the relatively low cost of the $5,000 award in an era of $128 million budgets for the town, the council collectively believed the award for the first white marlin had lust its luster and perhaps the tradition had run its course.
However, when the word got out the council had decided to eliminate the annual $5,000 prize, the backlash from the resort’s fishing community was immediate. As a result, a coalition of various businesses called Fishermen United of Ocean City rallied to put together its own $5,000 prize to fill the void.
A week later, after receiving a blitz of emails and calls from the fishing community, the Mayor and Council voted to restore the town’s $5,000 reward for the first white marlin of the season. With the town’s $5,000 back in place along with the Fishermen United of Ocean City’s new $5,000 prize, the angler who caught the first white marlin of the season stood to earn $10,000 in prize money, or as much as $15,000 total if the first white was caught aboard an Ocean City Marlin Club member boat.
During budget deliberations this spring, the Mayor and Council, cognizant of the backlash last year, included the town’s $5,000 award for the first white marlin of the season in the fiscal year 2019 budget. Just this week, the Fishermen United of Ocean City announced they too would be putting up $5,000 for the first white marlin of the season. The Ocean City Marlin Club’s $5,000 prize for a member who catches the first white of the season remains in place, making the potential total prize money $15,000.
Last year presented a unique situation in terms of how the newly-enhanced prize money for the first white marlin was distributed. A boat fishing out of Indian River Inlet in Delaware recorded the first white marlin of the season on June 16. Because the boat was a Marlin Club member boat, it took the club’s $5,000 prize.
However, the town’s $5,000 prize along with the Fishermen United of Ocean City’s new $5,000 prize was still out there. The very next day, a boat out of Sunset Marina caught and released a white marlin and was awarded the town’s $5,000 prize along with the Fishermen United of Ocean City’s $5,000 prize.
The earliest white marlin caught ever was in 2015 when one was caught and released on May 25. The latest date ever for the first white marlin of the year off the coast of Ocean City occurred on July 20, 1940.
