08-28-2012, 11:10 AM
Though not as dramatic as previous years, Day Five once again lived up to its Moving Day reputation and fortunes were once again made and dashed on the final day of fishing as the 2012 Mid-Atlantic $500,000 came to a close. With the tuna category relatively out of reach with the third heaviest tuna weighing a stout 217 pounds, many in the fleet of 90 boats fishing on Day Five focused their effort on white marlin and blue marlin.
Robert Warder of Parkton, Maryland on his Reelentless held on to his lead in the white marlin category with his 79-pounder which was caught on Day Two and went on to win the Heaviest White Marlin award pocketing $667,369. Richard McCann of West Chester, Pennsylvania aboard his Sea Slammer was at the scale in Ocean City before the 5 p.m. opening on Day Five and after weighing his white marlin of 78 pounds he was able to claim the 2nd Heaviest White Marlin prize of $115,793. Moments later, also on Day Five, Tom Perry of Pa
ena, Maryland aboard his Game Over weighed a 75-pounder and would hold on to win he 3rd Heaviest White Marlin award of $46,556.
Wade Lober of Ocean City, Maryland aboard his Why Knot boated a 416-pounder on Day Two and since no other qualifying blue marlin over the 400-pound minimum weight was weighed, Lober swept all three places in the category and received $309,503.
Anthony Matarese of Ocean City, Maryland boated a 233-pound big eye tuna on Day Two aboard his Reel Chaos to win the Heaviest Tuna award and bagged $178,533. Barry Weshnak's Miss Annie of Singer Island, Florida weighed a 224-pound big eye on Day Two and held on to win the 2nd Heaviest Tuna prize of $115,413. Tom Ely of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey on his Irish Twin boated a 217-pound big eye on Day Three and captured the 3rd Heaviest Tuna prize of $67,021.
Don Pyle of Annapolis, Maryland bagged a 43-pound dolphin (mahi mahi) on Day Two aboard his Moore Bills and received $9,440 for the Heaviest Dolphin award. Dave Anderson of Medford, New Jersey aboard his Krazy Salts weighed a 42-pound wahoo on Day Four and received $9,440 as the Heaviest Wahoo winner. 2
The tuna bite during the tournament was unprecedented and nearly four dozen were brought to the scales during the week including over three dozen big eye tuna! Also worth noting the total white marlin catch of 460 with all but 16 released is the fourth highest total in the tournament's history. There were also four sailfish and one spearfish released. The 40 blue marlin caught during the week with all but three released was the highest number of blue marlin caught since 1999 and second highest total on record for the tournament. Also of note, the 504 total billfish caught by the tournament field of 118 boats which each fished three days translates to a catch rate of 1.4 billfish per-boat-per-day! Additionally, of the 504 billfish caught, 485 were released for a release rate of over 96%!
Getting back to the action on Day Five, some of the boats with significant billfish releases on the final day of the tournament include five white marlin aboard Nick and Trish Rodriguez of Dover, Delaware aboard their Par Five. Jo Palumbo of Berlin, Maryland released five white marlin and a blue marlin aboard Pumpin' Hard 58. Boats with four white marlin and one blue marlin released on Day Five included Pat Healy's Viking 70 of New Gretna, New Jersey, Gina Addeo's Gina Lisa of Staten Island, New York and Hatteras Yachts Hatterascal of New Bern, North Carolina. Ed Dunn of Grasonville, Maryland on D.A. Sea, Art Kontos of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey on Let it Ride and Danny Gaugh of Glenwood, Maryland aboard Espadon each released four white marlin on Day Five. Peter Cherasia of Rumson, New Jersey aboard his Shark Byte released a blue marlin and a white marlin. For more information on individual boats release points as well as leaders in the white marlin and blue marlin point categories, please visit the tournament web site.
For further information on the tournament contact South Jersey Marina at 609-884-2400 or visit the tournament's official web site at www.MA500.com where you'll find the latest information including rules, photos, standings and a link to purchase official tournament apparel.
Catch Report
White marlin released - 444
White marlin boated - 16
Blue marlin released - 37
Blue marlin boated - 3
Sailfish released - 3
Spearfish released - 1
Tuna weighed - 43
Tuna released - 1
Wahoo weighed - 2
Dolphin weighed - 3
The 2012 Mid-Atlantic $500,000 is proudly sponsored by Premier Sponsors Ocean Yachts, Release Marine, South Jersey Yacht Sales and Sunset Marina and Premier Engine Sponsor Johnson & Towers/MTU. Additional sponsors include Alexseal Yacht Coatings; Baitmasters of South Florida; Big Game Fishing Journal; Canyon Club Resort 3
Marina; CanyonGear Custom Lures; Christi Insurance Group; Costa Marine Canvas; Dunleavey Art; Engines Incorporated; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Fineline Studio; FLIR Systems, Inc.; Garmin; Gentilini Motors; Guy Harvey; Interlux; Liquid Flow; Lucky Bones Backwater Grille; Mack Boring and Parts/Yanmar; MAN Engines and Components; Midlantic Gold Rush; Oceanview Marine Welding; Offshore Electronics; Offshore Financial and Pelagic Offshore Gear. Other sponsors include Penn Reels/Pure Fishing; Pipe Dreams Marine; Premier Yacht Management; Ransome Engine/Caterpillar; Raymarine; Rick Bogert; Salt Life; Seakeeper, Inc.; South Jersey Marina; Sperry Top-Sider; Sturdy Bank; Twin Disc of the Mid-Atlantic and The Washington Inn.
Robert Warder of Parkton, Maryland on his Reelentless held on to his lead in the white marlin category with his 79-pounder which was caught on Day Two and went on to win the Heaviest White Marlin award pocketing $667,369. Richard McCann of West Chester, Pennsylvania aboard his Sea Slammer was at the scale in Ocean City before the 5 p.m. opening on Day Five and after weighing his white marlin of 78 pounds he was able to claim the 2nd Heaviest White Marlin prize of $115,793. Moments later, also on Day Five, Tom Perry of Pa
ena, Maryland aboard his Game Over weighed a 75-pounder and would hold on to win he 3rd Heaviest White Marlin award of $46,556.Wade Lober of Ocean City, Maryland aboard his Why Knot boated a 416-pounder on Day Two and since no other qualifying blue marlin over the 400-pound minimum weight was weighed, Lober swept all three places in the category and received $309,503.
Anthony Matarese of Ocean City, Maryland boated a 233-pound big eye tuna on Day Two aboard his Reel Chaos to win the Heaviest Tuna award and bagged $178,533. Barry Weshnak's Miss Annie of Singer Island, Florida weighed a 224-pound big eye on Day Two and held on to win the 2nd Heaviest Tuna prize of $115,413. Tom Ely of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey on his Irish Twin boated a 217-pound big eye on Day Three and captured the 3rd Heaviest Tuna prize of $67,021.
Don Pyle of Annapolis, Maryland bagged a 43-pound dolphin (mahi mahi) on Day Two aboard his Moore Bills and received $9,440 for the Heaviest Dolphin award. Dave Anderson of Medford, New Jersey aboard his Krazy Salts weighed a 42-pound wahoo on Day Four and received $9,440 as the Heaviest Wahoo winner. 2
The tuna bite during the tournament was unprecedented and nearly four dozen were brought to the scales during the week including over three dozen big eye tuna! Also worth noting the total white marlin catch of 460 with all but 16 released is the fourth highest total in the tournament's history. There were also four sailfish and one spearfish released. The 40 blue marlin caught during the week with all but three released was the highest number of blue marlin caught since 1999 and second highest total on record for the tournament. Also of note, the 504 total billfish caught by the tournament field of 118 boats which each fished three days translates to a catch rate of 1.4 billfish per-boat-per-day! Additionally, of the 504 billfish caught, 485 were released for a release rate of over 96%!
Getting back to the action on Day Five, some of the boats with significant billfish releases on the final day of the tournament include five white marlin aboard Nick and Trish Rodriguez of Dover, Delaware aboard their Par Five. Jo Palumbo of Berlin, Maryland released five white marlin and a blue marlin aboard Pumpin' Hard 58. Boats with four white marlin and one blue marlin released on Day Five included Pat Healy's Viking 70 of New Gretna, New Jersey, Gina Addeo's Gina Lisa of Staten Island, New York and Hatteras Yachts Hatterascal of New Bern, North Carolina. Ed Dunn of Grasonville, Maryland on D.A. Sea, Art Kontos of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey on Let it Ride and Danny Gaugh of Glenwood, Maryland aboard Espadon each released four white marlin on Day Five. Peter Cherasia of Rumson, New Jersey aboard his Shark Byte released a blue marlin and a white marlin. For more information on individual boats release points as well as leaders in the white marlin and blue marlin point categories, please visit the tournament web site.
For further information on the tournament contact South Jersey Marina at 609-884-2400 or visit the tournament's official web site at www.MA500.com where you'll find the latest information including rules, photos, standings and a link to purchase official tournament apparel.
Catch Report
White marlin released - 444
White marlin boated - 16
Blue marlin released - 37
Blue marlin boated - 3
Sailfish released - 3
Spearfish released - 1
Tuna weighed - 43
Tuna released - 1
Wahoo weighed - 2
Dolphin weighed - 3
The 2012 Mid-Atlantic $500,000 is proudly sponsored by Premier Sponsors Ocean Yachts, Release Marine, South Jersey Yacht Sales and Sunset Marina and Premier Engine Sponsor Johnson & Towers/MTU. Additional sponsors include Alexseal Yacht Coatings; Baitmasters of South Florida; Big Game Fishing Journal; Canyon Club Resort 3
Marina; CanyonGear Custom Lures; Christi Insurance Group; Costa Marine Canvas; Dunleavey Art; Engines Incorporated; Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Fineline Studio; FLIR Systems, Inc.; Garmin; Gentilini Motors; Guy Harvey; Interlux; Liquid Flow; Lucky Bones Backwater Grille; Mack Boring and Parts/Yanmar; MAN Engines and Components; Midlantic Gold Rush; Oceanview Marine Welding; Offshore Electronics; Offshore Financial and Pelagic Offshore Gear. Other sponsors include Penn Reels/Pure Fishing; Pipe Dreams Marine; Premier Yacht Management; Ransome Engine/Caterpillar; Raymarine; Rick Bogert; Salt Life; Seakeeper, Inc.; South Jersey Marina; Sperry Top-Sider; Sturdy Bank; Twin Disc of the Mid-Atlantic and The Washington Inn.