White Marlin Open: The best moments and biggest winners from 2023 Ocean City tourney

The 2024 White Marlin Open is just a few days away from kicking off in Ocean City, and fans and anglers will flock to the seas and the scales in hopes of seeing a big catch.

Last year's White Marlin Open was it's 50th anniversary, as the tournament celebrated its five decades as a staple in the Ocean City community and as the world's largest billfish tournament. As usual with the White Marlin Open, there were plenty of thrills throughout it's five days, and before this year's tournament starts, lets have a look back at the winners and top moments from the 2023 tournament.

Here were the biggest winners and moments from the 2023 White Marlin Open:

Massive Blue Marlin catch takes home the big prize

There were no qualifying white marlin caught at last year's White Marlin Open, but a massive blue marlin caught on Day 5 amazed the crowd at Harbour Island Marina and brought home the biggest prize.

Roughly two hours into last year's Day 5, the Floor Reel boat arrived at the scales with a blue marlin waiting to be weighed. And once it was clear that the fish had reached the minimum qualifying length, John Ols' 640.5-pound blue marlin catch not only became the leader in the blue marlin category, but was also the catch of the tournament.

With $10.3 million in prize money on the line, the blue marlin catch from Floor Reel would net them $6.2 million, granting them the most lucrative catch of the tournament.

More: White Marlin Open 2024: Everything you need to know about Ocean City's big tournament

Tuna dominates the week at 2023 White Marlin Open

Another one of the tournament's big winners also came to the scales on Day 5. And they were the first boat of the day to come to the scales, setting the tone for the final day.

The Reel Tight boat arrived at Harbour Island Marina just after the scales opened at 4 p.m., and they brought with them a 265-pound bigeye tuna that would put them on top of the tuna leaderboard. The fish would go on to be a $1 million catch by the time the tournament wrapped up.

There were more bigeye tuna that brought home big prizes, as a 215-pound tuna caught on Day 4 by Rusty Shriver and the RoShamBo boat reeled in about $1.7 million. And the overall second and third place tuna that were caught last year weighed 247.5-pounds and 221.5-pounds, respectively.

More: NBA PA announcer, Pocomoke alum and UMES Hall of Famer Pat Doughty dies at age 55

Competition in Wahoo, Dolphin categories. but no white marlin or swordfish

Filling out the tournament's leaderboard last year were the dolphin category winners and wahoo winners. In the dolphin category, Andrew Spangenberger and the Roncito caught a 50.5-pound dolphin, and in wahoo John Harris and the Shooting Star reeled in a 57-pound fish.

But there were no qualifying white marlin or swordfish caught at last year's tournament. In order for a white marlin to qualify it must be at least 70 pounds and 70 inches long, and for swordfish it must reach a minimum length of 60 inches. With the 2024 tournament just around the corner, anglers will surely be looking to fill those categories with catches this year.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: White Marlin Open: The best moments and biggest winners from 2023 Ocean City tourney