Fest Desk
An 80-pound white marlin wins the 53rd White Marlin Open — and $3.5 million
Bill Sharpe's fish, boated aboard Mister Pete out of Charleston, held the scales to the end of the week. 334 boats fished for an estimated $9.9 million.
By OCMD Explorer
The 53rd White Marlin Open closed on Saturday with an 80-pound white marlin on top. Bill Sharpe boated it aboard Mister Pete, out of Charleston, South Carolina, and it paid $3,503,891.54 — the largest single prize of the week.
Second place went to Kevin Howell's 71.5-pounder aboard Reel Hunter of St. Michaels, worth roughly $355,000. Third was James Hood's 70-pounder aboard Bull Pen, also of Charleston. In the other divisions, Gray Fox took both tuna (179 pounds) and wahoo (69.5 pounds) — a double that does not often happen — and MaxBet weighed a 607.5-pound blue marlin.
White Marlin OpenHeld the first full week of August, weighing in at Harbour Island.
The tournament ran August 3 to 8 with 334 boats and an estimated $9.9 million on the line. If you were downtown in the late afternoon that week and could not work out why the crowd was ten deep at the harbour, that is the answer. The weigh-ins are free to watch and they run until the last boat is in — the cheapest good afternoon in Ocean City during Open week, and it is on again next August.
Related items
Sources
- Primary source — whitemarlinopen.com, verified August 2026
- Also reported by WBOC — 2026 White Marlin Open winners reel in the big bucks, one fish worth $3.5 million
- Also reported by FOX45 Baltimore — 80-pound catch wins top prize at White Marlin Open in Ocean City
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