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Health & Fitness

High Waves and Higher Stakes

At the 38th Annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City: sports fishing and high-stakes gambling equals a good time had by all.

If you are lucky enough to be down the shore in Ocean City this week, you have the opportunity to be a part of something really cool. The 38th Annual White Marlin Open is happening down there all week, and it’s a rockin’ good time. There is all the romance and adventure of a Melville novel mixed in with high-stakes sports gambling. And who knew that some of the best sports fishing in the world occur right off the shores of our little state? Some of the best fishermen up and down the East Coast, that’s who.

In the beginning of every August for the last thirty eight years, Ocean City has been host to this sports fishing tournament. Contestants enter to fish three of five days (they pick which two days to take off) to try to land the biggest fish in each species category. In addition to an official tournament prize, contestants who bag the biggest specimens also win cash in an entrants-only side-betting scheme called the Calcutta, but more on that later.

Did you know that Ocean City is known as the White Marlin capital of the world?  Neither did I. Not a clue. Every year sporting fishermen come from all four corners to land the elusive and powerful fish, as well as other species. And this tournament is neither for the faint of heart nor the light in wallet. The fishing boats that compete are amongst the most expensive in the world--per foot that is. These vessels are decked out with the latest in console equipment, fish boxes for keeping the catches iced up, heavy tackle, and some have up to four staterooms each with their own bathroom. Some have a “tuna tower” where one can control the boat by remote at crow’s nest heights for visibility. So per foot, these boats that can reach $4 million to $6 million apiece--more expensive than Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s yacht.

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For the White Marlin Open, for each contestants’ three days out on the water, rules are that no lines go in the water before 8:30 a.m. and all lines out by 3:30 p.m.  The boats head out hours offshore, and must head in to port for weighing from 4 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. The event is so big that the local authorities are on the ready each afternoon rush to raise and lower the Route 50 drawbridge so that competitors can make it to the dock within regulation time. That’s where the party is every night. Crowds line up on the dock and on nearby boats, beers in hand to watch these fast swimming creatures measure up and happy anglers pose for pictures with their prize catches. Catch-and-release categories for billfish include White marlin, Blue marlin, sailfish, swordfish and spearfish. So-called “meat” categories include tuna, dolphin fish and wahoo, which are obviously keep-and-eat.

The regular tournament prize is around $50,000, which for this expensive sport would hardly cover the gas and the crew, much less the equipment investment.  That’s where the Calcutta comes into play. A paramutual betting structure, the Calcutta is like an ante kicked in per entry category by species, and is open only to contest participants. Just the ante for the top Marlin class alone can be $5,000. A boat entering all species, to cover anything they might catch, can pony up to $16,000 or $17,000! And that doesn’t even cover the Open’s entry fee. The payoff can be huge; the top tuna in this year’s Open weighed in at 279 lbs. and can win the boat $312,000. The top White marlin tips the scales at 86.5 lbs. and can potentially net a whopping $752,000! The stakes are so high that anyone who wins the top prize cannot leave town until they submit to a lie detector test. To get that top cash prize, participants have been known to throw heavy metal bolts down the Marlin’s gullet to increase the weight. Three years ago, Billy Matthews left town before the lie detector, but later went back and failed the test. An ugly battle ensued between the 2nd and 3rd place contenders; accusations and counter-protest flew.

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So if you’re down Ocean City way this week, check out the party at the White Marlin Open, every week night from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. I swear there’s a good movie in all this. The high-concept pitch would be Jaws meets Two For the Money… or A Perfect Storm meets a happy ending.

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