White Marlin 2023 live updates: Tuna rule day 1, with a mammoth bigeye on top

It's Day 1 of the 50th White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland, and the 50th anniversary of the tournament looks like it could be a memorable one.

On Sunday afternoon, the world's largest billfishing tournament announced that 400 boats would be competing in this year's tournament, and that they would be competing for a $10.3 million purse, a new world record. Definitely a milestone year for the tournament

You can follow along here for updates throughout Day 1 of White Marlin Open, as Delmarva Now reports live from the scales at the Harbour Island Marina from the time they open at 4 p.m. until they close at 9:15. Everything from Twitter coverage, photos and interviews with anglers from Day 1 of the tournament will be available on this live blog.

New Tuna leader, first qualifying dolphin come in as Day 1 winds down

The 118-pound bigeye tuna that held strong at the top of the leaderboard for most of Day 1 was supplanted as the biggest catch of the day, as an even bigger bigeye took its spot. The Instigator reeled in a 199-pound bigeye to take the top spot in the tuna category, exciting the crowd at Harbour Island Marina with a fish currently valued at $1 million. So far, tuna have dominated Day 1 of the world's largest billfishing tournament.

The first qualifying dolphin was brought in right after that massive bigeye, with Harley Smegal on the Hey Buddy bringing in a 21-pounder to take the top spot in that category.

The wait is still on for the first billfish of the tournament to come in, and there are signs that it could be coming at some point in the near future. Plenty of boats have had flags indicating that they had caught white and blue marlins throughout the day, only to release them back into the ocean.

First Wahoo, tons of Tuna highlight at the scales

The first qualifying Wahoo has been brought to the scales in Ocean City, as Chad Jackson and the Captain Deadly reeled in a 55-pounder to take a spot in that category's leaderboard. In a day featuring mostly tuna, this was the first non-tuna fish to brought to the scales.

Speaking of tuna, the tuna category has constantly delivered throughout the day. Plenty of qualifying tuna have come to the scales, but none have come closes to surpassing the bigeye caught by Angelo Ponte and Bow Down. There has been movement in the second and third place spots in the tuna leaderboards, as Andrew Mitchell of the Strokin' boat took second place with a 64-pound tuna, and Craig Sheilbach of the Sushi is in third place with his 61.5-pound yellowfin.

There was also a mahi brought to the scales by the members of the Artemis, but it failed to meet the 20-pound requirement that dolphin catches need to qualify.

Yellowfin and Bigeye Tuna become first fish brought to the scales

The first catches of the tournament have been brought to the scales in the second hour since they opened, and so far they have all been tuna fish. Richie Rodgers and the Phenom 37 brought in a 52-pound yellowfin that became the first qualifying fish of the tournament, and less than 20 minutes later, Brad Davies, an angler from Selbyville, Delaware, also weighed a 52-pound yellowfin, fishing out of the Tellum II.

But both yellowfin catches were immediately upstaged by a bigeye tuna that weighed 118 pounds. Caught by Angelo Ponte of the Bow Down boat, the bigeye currently leads multiple daily and small boat categories, along with the tuna category. It is still very early in the week, but as things stand, the bigeye catch is currently valued at about $1.3 million, according to the tournament.

Chad Carrozza of the Whiskey Kilo boat moved into second place in the tuna category shortly after 6 p.m., weighing a 58-pound tuna.

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Scales open, quiet first hour at the Marina

The scales at Harbour Island Marina officially opened at 4 p.m., and anglers are expected to start making their way to Ocean City soon. No boats came to the scales in the first hour, likely because it takes boats multiple hours to get to Ocean City after they are required to stop fishing at 3:30 p.m. We'll see if things heat up as the afternoon goes along.

How many boats went out today in Day 1 of the White Marlin Open?

Of the 400 boats competing in this year's tournament, 378 of them decided to use one of their fishing days on Day 1. With that many boats going out today, it could set up for an action-packed Day 1 at the Harbour Island Marina scales.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: White Marlin Open 2023: Tuna rule day 1 for 50th anniversary