Dan Radel, Asbury Park Press
The 2021 MidAtlantic tournament held in Cape May, New Jersey and Ocean City, Maryland was one for the ages. When the dust settled, a record 1,135-pound blue marlin caught Friday, the last day of the contest, on Jon Duffie's Billfisher took home the top purse of $1.167 million in winnings.
The marlin was so big its tail hung through Billfisher’s transom door as she sat at the scale. A skiff was needed to assist with pulling the fish from the boat through the door so it could be hoisted to the scale, which took eight men to do, according to the tournament's spokespeople.
The remarkable catch, which angler Billy Gurlach battled for 3½ hours on an 80-pound outfit, ousted from the lead a 985-pound blue marlin that was landed the day before on the boat Wolverine, from Beaufort, North Carolina. That marlin was, for a fleeting moment, the largest blue marlin ever landed in the tournament's 30-year history.
That prestigious distinction now belongs to the Billfisher out of Ocean City, Maryland. The blue marlin is also a pending new Maryland state record, eclipsing the 1,062 pounds set by Robert Farris in 2009. For the record, the Billfisher's marlin was over 11 feet long from bill to tail.
All that came after Larry Hesse’s Goin’ in Deep out of Manasquan got the tournament started last Monday, day one of the 5-day tournament, with a 681-pound blue marlin. That fish would have won 22 out of 30 years of the big game tournament that draws sport fishermen from all around the world to compete for millions of dollars in cash.
© MidAtlantic Tournament A 1,135-pound blue marlin landed on the boat Billfisher makes it way to scale at the 30th Annual MidAtlantic Tournament. The fish won first place and netted the fishermen over $1 million in tournament winnings.
Hesse and his team still took home $412,237 because of all the calcuttas, or side bets, they entered.
The blue marlin was not the only fish to net $1 million in prize money. Anthony Martina’s Sea Wolf from Middletown, Delaware, took the top prize of $1.017M for his 82-pound white marlin weighed on Wednesday, day three.
Chip Caruso of Colts Neck, New Jersey aboard his Pipe Dreamer, raked in just over $1 million with a pair of bigeye tuna at 235 and 227 pounds to take first and second place in the tuna category.
By the numbers, the 30th annual MidAtlantic set a new mark for the number of boats entered at 203, breaking its previous record of 183 set last year.
The total purse of $5,929,050 eclipsed the tournament's previous high mark of just over $4 million set last year as well.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Giant blue marlin nets fishermen $1.167M in MidAtlantic tournament
Hesse and his team still took home $412,237 because of all the calcuttas, or side bets, they entered.
The blue marlin was not the only fish to net $1 million in prize money. Anthony Martina’s Sea Wolf from Middletown, Delaware, took the top prize of $1.017M for his 82-pound white marlin weighed on Wednesday, day three.
Chip Caruso of Colts Neck, New Jersey aboard his Pipe Dreamer, raked in just over $1 million with a pair of bigeye tuna at 235 and 227 pounds to take first and second place in the tuna category.
By the numbers, the 30th annual MidAtlantic set a new mark for the number of boats entered at 203, breaking its previous record of 183 set last year.
The total purse of $5,929,050 eclipsed the tournament's previous high mark of just over $4 million set last year as well.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Giant blue marlin nets fishermen $1.167M in MidAtlantic tournament
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