OCEAN CITY, Md. -- The 51st Annual White Marlin Open got underway on Monday and excitement is brewing in the coastal town. It's not the only thing brewing though, as a pretty big storm slowly makes its way up the East Coast.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby might effect Delmarva later on this week.
With the potential of bad weather on the horizon, nearly 2/3rds of the boats headed out to fish on Monday. 318 boats entered this years tournament, 200 went fishing on Monday.
That left 118 boats sitting at the docks, and despite the forecast, the crews we spoke with seemed confident for the rest of the week.
"We know we're going to get on it one day when it's pretty snotty out there," said Grady Hearn, a crew member on Reel King. "It's looking like Tuesday's pretty good, later in the week is maybe a gamble."
Radar equipment will play a big role in evening out those odds and giving anglers the upper hand in predicting the weather. They'll be looking at specific patterns to determine whether or not it's the right time to get the lines in the water.
"Looking at wind and wave height really, so like the combination of the two," said Hearn. "One day the swell might be three foot but if the wind is blowing 20-25 miles per hour then you got something different going on out there."
Some crews, like Fish On, already have their sights set on certain days.
"Our plan right now is to go tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday and then we're going to see, either go Thursday or Friday," said Jake Emche.
Emche said outside of the weather, there is a strategic angle to them hanging back on day one.
"We decided to lay on the first day, kind of let everybody else get beat up today and hopefully find a couple fish," said Emche. "Our plan is to cherry pick off them, straight up, let them go have a couple bites and we're sliding in behind them and hopefully get a big one."
A lot of the anglers we spoke with on Monday told us they have been monitoring the radar, but the weather is changing constantly. So regular checks throughout the week will help them go after the biggest fish in the safest way possible.
