August 3 – 8, 2026
Ocean City, MD
The White Marlin Open is a 52-year-old deep-sea fishing tournament held annually in Ocean City, Maryland. The tournament awards prize money for catches of white marlin, blue marlin, tuna, wahoo, dolphin and swordfish. The first tournament, held in 1974, drew 57 boats, 150 anglers and paid $20,000 in prize money with the top award of $5,000. The 2025 event drew 282 boats, over 3,000 contestants, and paid out over $7.24 million dollars in prize money including the top individual award of $3.9 million. Long known as “World’s Largest Billfishing Tournament,” the White Marlin Open has awarded over $121 million dollars since 1974 to the lucky winners among more than 120,000 anglers aboard over 16,000 registered boats. Along the way, the WMO became not just the largest billfish tournament, but also holds the world record for prize money payouts for any type of fishing tournament.