The White Marlin Open will expand its possible fishing days from five to six next year in an effort to avoid weather conditions that plagued the event in August.
Rough offshore conditions forced officials to push the Ocean City, Maryland, event to a full week before Billfisher, a boat based in Ocean City, claimed the tournament’s top prize of $3.9 million. Some days, hundreds of anglers hit the water, while on other days, only a handful of the 282 registered boats went fishing.
The event — billed as the world’s largest and richest billfish tournament — has traditionally allowed boats to fish on three of the tournament’s five days, but the expansion adds an extra possible day. The tournament has usually ended on Friday night, but the 2026 White Marlin Open will run from Monday, Aug. 3 until Saturday, Aug. 8.
“Unpredictable weather patterns have made it increasingly difficult for teams to plan their fishing days,” tournament director Madelyne Motsko said in a statement. “By extending the window to six days, we’re giving every crew a better chance to compete under fair and favorable conditions.”
Ocean City boat wins more than $3.9 million in White Marlin Open
The 2025 tournament featured about 2,500 anglers competing for a total purse of $7.3 million.
Billfisher brought in its winning white marlin, weighing 72 pounds, on Wednesday and finished atop the white marlin leaderboard to earn the tournament’s top prize of $3.9 million.
A 929.5-pound blue marlin caught by the Barbara B — based in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina — was the early big-money leader. That fish fell behind the tournament’s namesake top catch and finished atop the blue marlin category and earned the crew more than $1.2 million.
