by With the MidAtlantic drawing to a close Friday night, the two billfish leaders worth millions won’t be easy to beat though my experience indicates they are no sure thing.
In the early days of that contest, I was a guest angler on Absolut-ly out of Brielle Yacht Club when I was the only one tending rods during long day of no hits when one doubled over. That turned out to be a blue marlin over 500 pounds, but that was a summer of big blues. When combined with a blue release, that fish won the Blue Marlin Champion trophy for the Dinardi brothers. However, it wasn’t worth a cent in the tournament, and became the only blue over 500 pounds that never payed off in contest history.
The 70-pound white marlin leading in the prime category for the Viking 80C will be hard to beat by rolling, but they do get bigger on this side of the Atlantic. My personal record as a boat captain is a 99-pounder caught by my wife Kathy while sharking off Montauk when I kept a Mako center console there many years ago. The very few huge whites I’ve heard of were caught by shark or giant tuna chummers.
We should have a better idea of how the MidAtlantic will play out after today’s results are in. I’ll be adding a blog after the scales close.
The Golden Eagle from Belmar didn’t catch much during Tuesday’s Exotics trip as northeast winds were blowing 25-30 knots. Today they had a pick of 2-4-pound blues with limits for those who worked at the jigging.
The inshore forecast is for south winds at 10 knots before increasing to 15-20 plus gusts to 25 in the afternoon. There’s a chance of showers.
Tight Lines 
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