Now in its 34th year, the 2025 MidAtlantic is set for August 17-22 and plans are well underway at Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, New Jersey and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland to accommodate a stellar field of world-class crews and boats from up and down the east coast.

Last year’s MidAtlantic saw 198 boats compete for a total cash purse of over $5.75 million with 32 boats winning a portion of the pot. Of the 32 winners, two won over $1 million while four others won over $200,000. Five other winners received over $100,000 and 11 others received over $25,000! Online registration for this year’s MidAtlantic is already open and can be easily and securely be completed by visiting www.themidatlantic.com and clicking on the “Register Online Now!” tab. With port caps once again set at 125 boats for each venue participants should also contact the host marinas to secure dockage when registering.

The MidAtlantic has a history of down-to-wire finishes and as you may recall last year’s event produced another nail-biting finish, this time in the blue marlin category when two blue marlin of well over 750 pounds each were weighed within minutes of each other at each tournament venue. Additionally, both fish were within 1½ inches in length of each other! In the end, the 795-pounder weighed at Canyon Club Resort Marina for Matt Asplundh’s Deadicated from Mantoloking, New Jersey edged out the 760-pounder Tommy Hancock’s Dem Boys of Isle of Palms, South Carolina weighed at Sunset Marina. A 638-pounder for John Conrad’s Gret’s Three J’s from Lititz, Pennsylvania finished in third place. For their efforts Deadicated won $1,139,248 while Dem Boys finished in second place won $497,714! Gret’s Three Js fared pretty well too for their third place finish and won $134,577! Also worthy of note with regard to blue marlin is 54 were caught with all but four released. That’s the fourth highest number of blue marlin caught in the tournament’s 33-year history and quite an impressive number for a northeast event!

The white marlin category saw a million dollar winner as well when Bill Haugland’s Lights Out from Bishopville, Maryland walked off with $1,416,891 for his 81-pounder, which was a tournament record payout for the category.

The second and third place winners fared pretty well too as a 77-pounder netted $346,692 for Anthony Alves of Millstone, New Jersey aboard his Kaarmaa and Charles Rodriguez of Camden-Wyoming, Delaware won $107,474 for his 75-pounder.

If you’re a tuna fanatic the MidAtlantic tournament is for you as the event boasts impressive payouts for the thunnus species. A 180-pound big eye netted the Reel Tight of Stephen Pilipauskis from Harwood, Maryland a cool $720,442 last year for the heaviest in the category! Equally impressive was the second place payout of $299,082 to Cape May, New Jersey’s Val Fichera whose Warden Pass decked a 174-pound big eye! Rich Lucas and his Team SI Yachts of Staten Island, New York nabbed $137,571 for their third place yellowfin of 81 pounds. Other impressive payouts for “meatfish” included $85,974 for a 76-pound wahoo aboard the Mary Naylor’s Little Crum from Jupiter, Florida while dolphin of 32 pounds paid out $66,654 and $57,720 respectively to John Gudelsky’s Reel Joy from Singer Island, Florida and Paul Crampton’s C Boys from Hagerstown, Maryland. Though they tied for the heaviest dolphin their payouts varied based on their level of calcutta participation.

As noted above this year’s MidAtlantic is set for the week of August 17-22. Entry fee is set at $3500 which covers all the dockside dining and hospitality. Prize money for the tournament is tallied from the various levels of calcuttas, also called side bets, a participant enters. A participant may enter any, all or none, but as they say, ya gotta be in it to win it and the more risk, the higher the reward. Cash payouts of different amounts from the calcuttas are awarded for the three heaviest white marlin, blue marlin, tuna, wahoo and dolphin.

The tournament provides five fishing days for boats to select three to fish. Participants may fish out of Cape May, New Jersey where the tournament’s host marina is Canyon Club Resort Marina, or Ocean City, Maryland where Sunset Marina is host facility. Full weigh-in is provided at both venues and live video feed from each marina keeps the participants up to date during each night’s weigh-in. All boats must fish within 125 miles of the Cape May Sea Buoy whether fishing out of Cape May or Ocean City. All species have minimum sizes/weights to qualify for cash prizes. Minimum size for white marlin is 69 inches AND 65 pounds while blue marlin must be 102 inches AND 400 pounds. Tuna eligible include big eye, yellowfin and true albacore and must weigh at least 50 pounds to win cash while dolphin and wahoo minimum weights are set at 20 pounds. Custom awards are presented to the top three point winners in both billfish and the tuna categories as well as the most points overall.

Although we’re still two months away from tournament week, it is strongly recommended that you make plans NOW to avoid being left out of sportfishing’s “Main Event” on the mid-Atlantic tournament calendar each summer. For more information contact Tournament Director Aaron Hoffman at 609-884-0177 or visit the tournament’s web site at www.themidatlantic.com where you’ll find all the facts, figures and information about the 2025 MidAtlantic including a complete breakdown of calcuttas, rules, points, and a Tournament Week schedule. You can also follow the tournament on Facebook at The MidAtlantic Tournament, on Twitter @midatl and on Instagram @themidatlantictournament.