White Marlin Open founder talks past, future as Ocean City's big tourney at 50th year

The 50th anniversary of the White Marlin Open is coming to Ocean City this summer, as boats and anglers flock to the Eastern Shore with hopes of catching big fish and the money that comes with it.

The World's Largest Billfishing Tournament has come a long way to become a staple in both the local Eastern Shore community and the fishing community all along the East Coast. Founder Jim Motsko has been there every step of the way, helping to shepherd the tournament throughout its growth.

A Baltimore native, Motsko helped found the tournament in Ocean City in 1974, with people sportfishing in the Eastern Shore town that is known as "The White Marlin Capital of the World." Now, people flock from all over to compete for the record-setting prize money, or just to witness the event at the scales each year.

Motsko talked with Delmarva Now recently about the White Marlin Open's history, approaching 50 years of the tournament, and what the tournament has meant to him and his family

What has it been like getting ready for this year's tournament and the preparations, especially with this being a milestone year for you guys?

We're not doing a whole lot different this year than we were last year, other than letting people be aware that it's the 50th. We have our annual T-shirt design that celebrates our 50th, and we've got a little logo that we added on to our normal one.

And we also have the new added entry level to specifically celebrate our 50th anniversary, $50,000 White Marlin Open winner-take-all added entry level. And that's been the talk of the town. But other than that we're doing the same thing that we do every year.

I just came back from a two-day promotion trip up to Northern Jersey. and before that a two-day trip to the Carolinas and Virginia. We're doing what we normally do and we're hoping that the weather stays good for the next three or four weeks and the marlins show up in real good numbers.

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Personally, are there more feelings going into this accomplishment and what you guys have been able to build over the last 50 years?

Yeah, when you look back and mention 50 years, I'm 76. Looking back and thinking, "Goodness gracious, it seems like I've been doing this all my life." And my kids have been doing it all their lives.

They were born into it. So every now and then you sit back and you think about it. But we're not languishing on our laurels, lets put it that way.

I think all of us are kind of awed that we managed to get 50 years in of doing this. We started this from scratch, and it really wasn't intended to be what it ended up to be.

But as every year went by, we just kept doing a little bit more, and we kept getting more boats, more prize money. I think, deep down inside, each and everyone of us, myself and my two daughters especially, it's a good feeling, very good feeling.

Was there every a specific moment or specific year were you thought "Wow, this has grown so much and so far past my expectations?"

Well we didn't plan it this way, it just kept growing. It wasn't like I went to school to learn and get a business model for how to run a tournament.

Over the years, the tournament was originally set up so I could fish in it and win some money by catching the most, and then use that money to go fishing because sportfishing, at least this type, is very expensive. I never won any kind of big money in the tournament.

I'm just happy to be part of it right now. A lot of people are patting us on the back and saying, "Good tournament this year," hopefully it's good. We're all happy about it, we just want to get it over with [laughs]. I mean that's pretty much the way it is right now, get it done and do it now.

Last year was my second year covering it and I recognized a lot of the guys at the scales that help out with the fish from the year before. The community around the tournament that you guys have built, is it kind of a family atmosphere? Especially when you're working with your family as well.

We've been working with the same group of people for a while. My daughters have been doing it all there lives.

Our weigh staff ... there's about four or five guys that show up every year and their our weigh staff. Connor Motsko, one of my nephews has taken into one of the spots.

And then we have people who just volunteer all the time. Those guys are all volunteers. We have people that help us with the T-shirts and help us with whatever we need that week.

And it's not like the city gets behind us all, it's just we have our little core people that are real nice and they get to enjoy it. If they're happy and helping us, then we love that and we appreciate them.

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You guys have become a staple when it comes to Ocean City events. In the summers you attract a lot of people, whether its people that are competing in the tournament or people that just want to come to the scales, hang out and see the fish. What's it been like establishing yourself locally?

It wasn't planned this way, it just happened to work out this way. It is a big event, no question about it, when you mention 400 boats, or people talking about how many boats we have.

Watching 400 boats come in and out of the inlet, it seems like it never ends. And when the boats leave to go fishing or when they come in, it just seems like it takes a long time for the bridge to go up because there's lots of boats that go through it.

It is a big deal. It's the biggest boat show, I call it, that there is. Where do you get 400 boats together all at one time? There's not many places you can do that.

We're very lucky Ocean City has the facilities to hold what we're doing. Ocean City is tight on boat dockage during that week, but everything else they have, motels, great restaurants, good beaches, good fishing. So we're lucky to have it here in Ocean City.

A lot of places that have other fishing events don't have the facilities that Ocean City has. And I'm sure it helps us get more boats and people to participate because if part of the family wants to go the beach and the other part of the family wants to go fishing you can do it. But there's not a lot of places where you can do multiple things ... Ocean City offers it all.

From the fishing aspect of the tournament, you guys bring in a lot of fish, some released, some you bring to the scales. People donate fish to the food bank.

The food bank, we donate everything that's not used by our anglers. And a lot of people, even though they like to catch some of the tuna fish and keep it for themselves, they'll start donating that.

Last year I think we had more than 2,000 pounds of food, basically. We have them cleaned, they're giving to the Maryland food bank and distributed through the Eastern Shore, mostly in this county. And those people who receive it, and feed their people, they're the ones who really appreciate it.

So, we're fortunate to have it all spoken for. And it's good protein that a lot of times people don't get. We're very happy to help them fill that need.

What are some of the more memorable moments or years of the competition that stand out in your memory?

Well in 1991, we hit I think 257 boats that year. That was the year that we were officially the largest billfish tournament in the world. We had surpassed a tournament in Australia, and that was a real good milestone, and it stands out in my brain, lets put it that way.

That was one of the really nicest things that I have ever experienced, to all of a sudden be called the biggest tournament in the world. I never expected anything like that.

But also, 2002, the white marlin was proposed to be listed as an endangered species by the Department of Commerce. That year at our fishing event, the marlins showed up in numbers, and that tournament we had that year in 2002, I think we had more than 1,400 white marlin caught and released.

About 10 days after that, myself and some other people joined our congressman at the time Wayne Gilchrest to go to D.C. and testify to the House Oceans Committees about whether we felt that the white marlin needed to be listed as an endangered. I thought the comment of "If they're endangered, then we just had out best year ever in the number of fish caught." And that was enough to convince those people who make the laws that it really wasn't necessary.

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What happened after that was, everybody started using circle hooks, hooks designed so they don't kill the fish. Since that date, the white marlin has been recovering in numbers, not due to us primarily.

But if they would've put a moratorium on fishing, we wouldn't been in business any longer after 2002. That sticks in my mind. If that wouldn't have happened, we wouldn't even be on the phone right now.

Two years ago we had a crazy finish. On Friday night there were boats coming in. Places change sometimes, but usually on the last day on Friday, there's a whole lot of people counting their money.

And when that happened and more boats started coming and people who were first end up becoming fourth. And that was a very unique finish. I don't know if we can ever top anything like that. Hopefully this year we have some excitement the last couple days.

Those things really stick into my mind, and really after the first year, that we were able to have a successful tournament and pay out money starting from scratch, just starting from an idea. That was probably the biggest one. Getting over the hump and then realizing, "We did this, and let's do it again next year."

People liked it, people asked us if we were going to do it again, and we automatically started saying yeah, we're going to do it again. We're going to do it every year. And that's what happened.

You talked about testifying in front of Congress. Being a fishing tournament, how often do you guys come under fire when it comes to fishing and environmental groups and things like that?

It's always happened, some times worse than others. The fish is a resource, and I think what we're doing, we release like 98% of the billfish that are caught. And my opinion and my opinion only is that it's making the highest and best use of that resource, instead of having boats catch them and sell them commercially for fertilizer.

It generates more money to the whole economy, when people catch the fish, you let him go, and then people go hire a boat and spend the money to go out fishing again. So, as far as the people that really sail that really don't know the whole game, it's nice to have your own cause, but what would you rather have done with them? Would you rather have them caught and released and generate millions of dollars worth of revenue for the cities, the counties and the people? Or would you rather just not and have netters catch them all, grind them up and use them for fertilizer?

I take it seriously, and I don't have any problem with people having issues with us, but they really don't know what they're talking about as far as us decimating the ocean. It's not the fishermen.

It's like Ducks Unlimited. You want the ducks. Even though you shoot them, you want them. It makes the population grow.

I think tournaments that are run under basically the same guidelines as ours, they're good things. We have very high minimum weights. With what we're doing here, we're very satisfied that a lot of the other tournaments would have the same high weights that we do.

Going back to the growth of the tournament, you guys have had celebrity's enter the tournament, Michael Jordan, Emeril Lagesse. What's that like, running a tournament from the start and it grows to the point where arguably the greatest basketball player ever decides that he wants to come annually to compete?

It gets us attention, there's no question about that. You'd be surprised how many people are asking me if Michael Jordan is coming back this year. People who are not fisherman, they're curious.

We had Wade Boggs, who is a baseball player whose fished in numerous years. We've had Roy Clark, a country singer, he used to fish it a lot.

A lot of those high profile people, they don't want us to know they're even there. And we do not publicize things when people are there. I respect their privacy. They're people too, they like to go fishing.

Once they're on the water, whether they're a good basketball players or good cooks or baseball players, that doesn't necessarily mean they're really good anglers. A lot of them are because they have the money and the time to do it and practice.

It's flattering to me that they would fish in our tournament. I'd like to see more of them. It's real nice publicity for our event when big name people who are very well known participate. I like that and I like to see that kind of stuff.

The tournament is a week in August and I'm sure you're preparing for it year-round, but what is life like for you outside of White Marlin Open?

I work in the real estate business. I'm still licensed in Maryland and Delaware, and I'm still dabbling a little bit in the real estate business, but I'm not working full-time any longer in it. I did it for 51 years and I don't need to do it, which is nice.

I enjoy being my own boss, and at White Marlin Open the buck stops here. So if anybody's to blame, it's me.

I enjoy what I'm doing. I don't look at the tournament as being work, although it is. It's year-round. Winters are slower than summer obviously. But I get enjoyment out of it. It's not like going to work. It's not like going to a 9 to 5 job at all. It's exciting.

You never know what the next day is going to bring. And like I said, it's not work to me. It's just the way it's always been, and hopefully it will be that way another 20 years.

Do you get nervous when the tournament starts to come up, or have you done it so many times it's kind of like riding a bike at this point?

No. You're always nervous because you never know. We don't know how many boats we're going to end up with until the last day. And if the weather's not good or the economy's bad, we don't really know.

It's always such a big relief, the end of registration night, that's one year's worth of work and preparation, it's over. The boats are here, now let's go fishing. And for me it's such a relief, no matter how many boats we end up with, that that hard part is over.

And for at least a week, there's stress but there's not that stress anymore. I can wait another year for all that.

Overall, this tournament that you've embarked on and watched grow for the last 50 years, what has it meant to you and your life, your family life and your business?

Well, you know, I've never really thought about it. But when you ask me that question I think that it goes to show that if you have a good idea, I've learned this: You don't have to be a college graduate, an MBA, to be able to make a living. And we were fortunate for our family to be able to make on something that's never been done before.

I'm kind of proud of that, that we were able to grow this business as much as we have. it wasn't intentional. But obviously we were doing some right things, and stayed away from a lot of wrong things, because we're still in business.

And people like what we do. And that's really rewarding, to have people come up to you, even though I don't crave that at all. I publicize it, but I'd rather be anonymous to be honest with you.

We enjoy it, we enjoy working it, even though it's hard. I know my kids get very stressed out, we all do. But I think we'd rather be doing this than any other job.

When you look back and say, "Well what would you rather be doing right now?" Here we're basically our own bosses, and that I think is one of the biggest things.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Q&A with White Marlin Open Founder Jim Motsko to mark 50th anniversary