White Marlin Open 2018 ends with tie at the top in weight

Salisbury Daily Times

Angler Pascual Jimenez aboard the Weldor's Ark is now tied for first place with an 83 pound white marlin that was weighed in during the 45th Annual White Marlin Open in Ocean City, Md. on Friday, August 10, 2018.

This report was originally published Aug. 11, 2018.

CORRECTION: This report has been updated to include that other factors that go into a tie-breaker.

The final day of Ocean City's White Marlin Open has produced a tie for the top fish when a second white marlin was brought to the dock as weigh-ins began.

Angler Pascual Jimenez of Mexico hooked another 83-pound white marlin aboard the Weldor's Ark to match the 83-pounder brought in Thursday by Underdog's Greg Giron, setting up a tie. The tournament officially ends once the scales close at 9:15 p.m.

Other factors will be considered in distributing the top $2.6 million prize in accordance with tournament rules.

When the catch hit the scales, the initial weight read off 83.5 pounds, but quickly lowered to 83, forcing the first tie in recent memory at the top of the white marlin division's leaderboard.

"I was so nervous. I kept saying, 'C'mon, give me it, give me it,'" Jimenez said with a laugh. "When it came up, we didn't know it was a keeper. Once it got close to the boat, it starting jumping ... we thought, 'Wow, that's a keeper.'"

Angler Gary Johnson, who was also aboard the Weldor's Ark, brought in a 71.5-pound white marlin a little earlier to move into third place, however, was knocked out of the Top 3 once Jimenez's catch was official.

The Weldor's Ark's crew caught three white marlin in an hour's span, weighing two and releasing the other.

"We didn't celebrate because we didn't know — we weren't sure if anyone had brought in another fish," Jimenez said. "You really don't know anything until you get here and see the scale."

Previous coverage:

Bill Haugland of the Lights Out caught a 75-pound white marlin on Tuesday and currently holds the third spot.

The Underdog's first place white marlin. The 83 pound fish took over first place in the white marlin category on Thursday.

A new first-place, 63-pound wahoo also rolled in, caught by Kevin Graybill aboard the Over Board to potentially net $18,000.

"(Wahoos) pull real good and they come off real fast, so we were just glad when we had it in the boat," Graybill said. "A couple of the guys saw it come out, and we knew we had a good wahoo."

As of 8:15 p.m., Joe Rahman — who caught an 881-pound blue marlin the first day — leads the blue marlin category. Gary Sansberry of the Buckshot leads the tuna division with his 75.5-pound catch and Louis Genello aboard the Fin-Nominal holds the top spot in the dolphin category with a 50-pound fish.

Rahman caught a white marlin Friday, but it failed to meet the tournament's required weight to be eligible.

The shark category was left open after no eligible catch was recorded.

Out of the 382 total anglers, 335 hit the water for the tournament's final day.

LEADERBOARD:White Marlin Open: Day 5 final standings

Any angler that won $50,000 or more is subject to polygraph testing per tournament rules. The examination takes place prior to the award ceremony on Saturday.