Day One dawned sunny and bright and 63 boats of the field of 134 headed offshore today and found the billfish in a hungry mood. The tournament committee worked late into the night after Sunday’s captains meeting tabulating entries and when all the cash was tallied up the tournament total purse is set at $1,781,550.
The tournament got off to a great start as Jonathan Duffie’s Billfisher took the early lead in the white marlin category after weighing an 88-pounder while Captain Scott Walker put Chris Shultz’s Cracker in second place with an 82-pounder. A three-way tie for third place includes Jeff Citron’s Singularis, Steve Dayton’s Lil’ Man and Scott Steele’s Toplesss as each weighed white marlin of 69 pounds.
Currently the blue marlin category is vacant as no qualifying blues were caught.
The tuna category currently has the Tar Heel of Mike Chrysanthopolis currently holding the top two places with yellowfins of 71 and 66 pounds while Curtis Macomber’s All In is in third place with a 61-pounder.
In the dolphin category Peter Cherasia’s Shark Byte weighed a 25-pounder to lead the category while Don Haines’ Shelly II leads the wahoo category with a 49-pound ‘hoo.
Some of the boats with significant billfish releases on Day One include Shark Byte with 15 white marlin releases and Miss Annie with five. Toplesss, Dave Anderson’s Krazy Salts, Marty Judge’s Judge and Danny Burt’s Pumpin’ Hard 58 each released four white marlin while Mike Penza’s Oil Slick, Pat Healy’s Viking 70 and Bob Mormile’s Lizanne each released three white marlin. Susan McCart’s Reel Joy released two white marlin and a blue marlin.
Technical difficulties kept the tournament’s official web site down for the day but we’ve been assured it will be up by tomorrow. At that time you can visit the ma500 website where the latest information including standings, photos and a link to purchase official tournament merchandise can be found. Please also visit the sportfishermen website where a live web cam will broadcast each night’s weigh-in from Cape May and Ocean City beginning at 5 p.m.
Please note the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 is a private event and not open to the general public. Tournament credentials are required for access to any tournament activities and facilities.
The 2010 Mid-Atlantic $500,000 is proudly sponsored by Premier Exhibiting SponsorsJohnson & Towers/MTU, Raymarine, South Jersey Yacht Sales and XM Satellite Weather. Additional sponsors include Baitmasters of South Florida; Big Game Fishing Journal; Canyon Club Resort Marina; Canyon Runner; Christi Insurance Group; Costa Marine; DeSatnick Real Estate; Electric Fishing Reel Systems; Engines Incorporated; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Fineline Glass; FLIR Systems, Inc.; Fraser-Volpe; Garmin; Grace Energy; Guy Harvey; Interlux; Lucky Bones Backwater Grill; Mack Boring and Parts; MAN Engines and Components; Midlantic Gold Rush; Nauticomp; Ocean LED, Oceanview Marine Welding; Ocean Yachts; Offshore Electronics; Offshore Financial and Pelagic Offshore Gear. Other sponsors include Penn Reels/Pure Fishing; Pompanette; Premier Detailing and Boat Cleaning; Ransome Engine/Caterpillar; Serago Roberts Jewelers/Ulysse Nardin; South Jersey Marina; Sperry Top-Sider; Sturdy Bank; Sunset Marina; Underwater Lights/Sea Vision; WKR Construction and World Billfish Series.By: Jeff Merrill
