Baltimore teams take home top 2 prizes in White Marlin Open
It's the largest fishing tournament in the world and it attracts competitors like Michael Jordan. The White Marlin Open in Ocean City.
Hurricane Isiaias delayed this year's tournament, but that didn't stop two teams from the Baltimore area from taking the two top prizes.
This might be a first for the White Marlin Open -- the first and second place teams are from Baltimore and the Baltimore area. Each team took home almost $2 million, apiece, in what is described as the Super Bowl of fishing tournaments.
“Not even about the money, this is just a dream come true for my family, all the other guys on the boat, too. It’s crazy,” said Daniel Grossman, of 1st Mate, Canyon Blues.
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Grossman, of Baltimore, 1st Mate on Canyon Blues, reflects after he, his family and a couple of friends reeled in a 97-pound white marlin at the open. The fish won them first prize and $1.85 million.
“When it was about 15 feet behind the boat, jumped out of the water, so we all saw it for the first time and our jaws hit the ground,” Grossman said.
It was the third heaviest fish caught in tournament history. Grossman says he's fished with his dad and his grandfather his entire life.
Four years ago, his grandfather passed away and they had his fishing rods refurbished and guess what happened: “During the tournament, I hook the fish on my grandfather’s rod and it’s so crazy how it all works like that,” Grossman said.
“As soon as we put it in the boat, we didn’t have to measure the fish, we know it was a big one,” said Edward Amos, of the Drillin & Billin team.
Amos, and his team, also from Baltimore, took home the second prize.
They reeled in a 77-pounder, which netted them a little more than $1.76 million. And in case you’re wondering, it's a total team effort.
“Y’all have to reel in the lines. There’s two dredges in the water, every other line get out of the way, then we go chase the fish. It’s a whole team effort, it was just unreal,” said Taylor Fields, of the Drillin & Billin team.
In the end, two teams, both with a lot of dreams, came through on the waters off of Ocean City, Maryland.
“We’ve all been going to this since we were kids, dreaming about this. I was 8 years old on the docks watching us with my dad thinking maybe one day I could get in at 40-years-later it all came together,” Amos said.