15th Mako Mania in the Books

OCEAN CITY- The 15th Annual Mako Mania Shark Tournament last weekend was a big success with hundreds of sharks caught and released and dozens more weighed at the scales at host Bahia Marina.

Sharks turned up in great numbers in the waters off the coast of Ocean City, just in time for the annual Mako Mania Tournament. The tournament is the first significant event of the summer-long tournament season in the area and if the results from last week are any indication, it should be another great one.

First place in the signature Mako Division went to angler Franky Pettolina, fishing aboard the “Blackjack,” with a 171-pound mako worth $12,854. The crew on the “Tighten Up” came in second in the division in terms of weight with a 169-pound mako, but took home the tournament’s biggest prize, a check for $31,545, because of added entry levels. The “Moore Bills” took third with a 168-pound mako and was awarded $9,773.

The crew on the “Game On” came in fourth and was awarded $3,252, which included a share of the third-place money. No threshers were caught during the tournament, but one boat, “Wayne’s World,” had an epic battle. The “Wayne’s World” battled a thresher, whose body length alone was estimated at 18 feet, for five and a half hours before losing it at the boat.