It’s well known that basketball legend Michael Jordan is all-in on offshore fishing, competing in Ocean City’s White Marlin Open for the past several years. But this year for the first time, his team caught the second-largest white marlin in the tournament and walked away with over $400,000.
The 71-pound fish that angler Trey “Cricket” McMillan boated on Jordan’s Catch 23 was just one pound shy of first place. That title was earned by the 72-pound white marlin caught by Ocean City angler Dan Gough on the Billfisher. The top fish won Gough and his team a sweet $3.9 million. While it was Gough’s first win, the Billfisher team is no stranger to victory. The 64-foot Duffie Boatworks fishing boat won in 2022 for a 77.5-pound white marlin. Catch 23 and Billfisher were the only boats to bring in qualifying white marlins during the 2025 weeklong tournament.
Catch 23, an 82-foot custom Bayliss Boatworks fishing machine known for its distinctive paint job, always attracts attention in Ocean City. From the time Jordan’s private jet arrives at Salisbury Regional Airport each August, all eyes are on Catch 23 for a glimpse of MJ during the tournament. This time, he was easy to spot posing for photos at the scales with his team, who are based in Charleston, South Carolina. White Marlin Open fans on Facebook celebrated the long-awaited fishing success for the basketball great, with some remarking that it’s great publicity for the sport of offshore fishing.
Scott Lenox, creator of Fish in OC and host of the Hooked on OC TV series, has covered the fishing tournament since before MJ first came on the scene. “I definitely think Jordan fishing these events is a good thing,” Lenox tells us. “It gets the White Marlin Open and Ocean City a lot of exposure for sure. And then boats like Billfisher can say, ‘We beat Michael Jordan!'”
Another boat making headlines was the Barbara B., which brought home a 929.5-pound blue marlin on the first day of the tournament, a fish that wouldn’t be touched for the rest of the week. Angler Drew Osmeyer of Timonium, Maryland, in Baltimore County, caught the fish that earned the tournament’s second largest payout at $1.27 million.
In the Tuna Division, angler Jonathan Cianciulli on Sea Hab brought in a 188-pound fish worth $764,325, the tournament’s third largest payout. The wahoo and dolphin (better known as mahi mahi) divisions also named winners.
The White Marlin Open is the world’s richest billfish tournament. The 52-year Ocean City tradition draws two thousand participants and their families along with thousands of spectators that gather each evening to the docks, where the day’s fish are weighed.
