OCEAN CITY- With a $3 million-plus purse on the line, the 27th Annual Mid-Atlantic Tournament was still pretty much wide open after the first two days this week, but there has been no shortage of fish weighed at the host ports in Ocean City and Cape May with a red-hot billfish bite and plenty of big-eye tuna showing up in time for the event.
Now in its 27th year, the Mid-Atlantic continues to be one of the top sport fishing events in the region with over $3 million in prize money expected to be doled out again this year. Tournament headquarters has always been the Canyon Club in Cape May, and that hasn’t changed, but the increased number of boats from the resort area has given the event a decidedly Ocean City flair.
Over a decade ago, Mid-Atlantic organizers opened up Ocean City as a second port from which to fish and the change was met with great enthusiasm. For the first two years, however, any Ocean City boat that caught a qualifying fish had to transport it to the official scales in Cape May. Nine years ago, however, Sunset Marina in West Ocean City was added as an official sister port for the event and local anglers participating in the Mid-Atlantic began to weigh potentially-winning in at their homeport.
Just 44 of the registered 157 boats ventured out on the tournament’s first day on Monday but there was no shortage of action at both Ocean City and Cape May. Day one featured a pair of 73-pound white marlin sharing the top spot on the leaderboard in the signature division. Local Captain Tucker Colquhn led the Special Situation with a 73-pound white marlin caught by angler Charlie Phelan, while angler George Robinson also weighed a 73-pound white marlin while fishing aboard the 3’s Enough.
There were no qualifying blue marlin weighed on day one, but the tuna division leaderboard filled up quickly. The Reel Estate out of Ocean City led the tuna division after day one with a 111-pounder, while the First Light weighed a 102-pounder and the M.R. Ducks sat in third with an 85-pounder. In the dolphin division, the Ringleader sat in first after day one with an 18-pounder, while the Game Changer sat in second with a 17-pounder.
The big story on Monday was the continued red-hot billfish bite. After day one, the aptly-named Billfisher led the release division with 12 white marlin releases and one blue marlin release. The Give It Away was in second with eight white marlin releases. The 3’s Enough, which had a tying white marlin on the board, also released six white marlin and one blue marlin. The Big Deal, the Bar South and the Goose each had six white marlin releases on the first day.
Tuesday shaped up to be the best day of the week weather-wise with 146 of the 157 registered boats heading out to the canyons. The only qualifying white marlin weighed on Tuesday was a 68-pounder from the Lucky Linda Jean, which cozied into third place. Again, no blue marlin were weighed on day two, leaving that division wide open heading into mid-week.
The big story on Tuesday were the tuna, dolphin and wahoo divisions. Big-eye tuna showed up in great numbers on Tuesday and the leaderboard was erased and rewritten. The D.A. Sea out of Ocean City topped the leaderboard with a 116-pounder, while the Blue Runner and Toddy Time shared second place with a pair of 114-pounders.
The dolphin division leaderboard was also erased and rewritten on Tuesday, highlighted by a 43-pounder weighed by the First Light. The Natural moved into second with a 33-pound dolphin, while the Reelin’ Feelin’ moved into third with a 25-pounder. In the wahoo division, local boat The Zipper weighed the first qualifier, a whopping 71-pounder that moved into first place. The Torta moved into second with a 46-pound wahoo.
