Record Breaking Marlin Caught
The summer of 2021 will definitely be a memorable one for Jon Duffie, captain of the Billfisher, and his crew out of Ocean City, MD. The Billfisher was only in its second week of operation when it smashed records reeling in an 1,135-pound Blue Marlin with Ande Monofilament Monster Yellow line in last week’s MidAtlantic Tournament out of Cape May, NJ and Ocean City, MD.
It was Day 5 of the tournament and both venues saw rain, but that didn’t stop the Billfisher. Duffie stated, “It was our only bite of the day because we had only been fishing about 50 minutes. We started out just below the Washington Canyon, and we were off on our own and less than an hour in we had the bite,” He said, “It ate the left side, and it ate the right rod for us, thankfully for a fish that big. The fish jumped a half dozen times, but nobody really got a good look at it on the boat except me. Everyone was like, ‘why are you so excited?’ They hadn’t seen it and I told them, ‘you guys have no idea what we have here.’ I initially thought a 700-, 800-pound blue. We fought it for three hours and 20 minutes. It was incredible. It was the hardest battle I’ve ever seen. I don’t have a lot of experience with fish that size. It’s just a rarity for this area.”
Since the blue was so big, they had no choice, but to return to Sunset Marina and call the rest of the day. The marlin was so large that its tail hung through the Billfisher’s transom door and once at the marina, it required a skiff to help with pulling the fish from the boat so it could be hoisted to the scale.
The Billfisher team took top prize in their category and brought home $1,167,762. Once verified, it would break the current state record of 1,062 pounds caught by Robert Farris in 2009.
It was Day 5 of the tournament and both venues saw rain, but that didn’t stop the Billfisher. Duffie stated, “It was our only bite of the day because we had only been fishing about 50 minutes. We started out just below the Washington Canyon, and we were off on our own and less than an hour in we had the bite,” He said, “It ate the left side, and it ate the right rod for us, thankfully for a fish that big. The fish jumped a half dozen times, but nobody really got a good look at it on the boat except me. Everyone was like, ‘why are you so excited?’ They hadn’t seen it and I told them, ‘you guys have no idea what we have here.’ I initially thought a 700-, 800-pound blue. We fought it for three hours and 20 minutes. It was incredible. It was the hardest battle I’ve ever seen. I don’t have a lot of experience with fish that size. It’s just a rarity for this area.”
Since the blue was so big, they had no choice, but to return to Sunset Marina and call the rest of the day. The marlin was so large that its tail hung through the Billfisher’s transom door and once at the marina, it required a skiff to help with pulling the fish from the boat so it could be hoisted to the scale.
The Billfisher team took top prize in their category and brought home $1,167,762. Once verified, it would break the current state record of 1,062 pounds caught by Robert Farris in 2009.
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