ICYMI: Florida Man’s $2.8 Million Marlin Might Get Away

OCEAN CITY, MD — A Florida man might not get to reel in a cool $2.8 million prize from Ocean City, Maryland’s White Marlin Open after all. Organizers of the annual tournament say there’s something fishy about the catch and have refused to pay out the proceeds, according to court documents.

Phil Heasley’s Naples-based boat, the Kallianassa, was named the winner of a $2.818 million prize in the August tournament after a reported catch of a 76.5-pound white marlin. The fish was the only one of that species that met the tournament’s qualifying standards. It was also the first $2 million fish in the tourney’s history.

While Heasley said he landed the prize-winner during the tournament, organizers of the White Marlin Open have filed a a lawsuit in Worcester County Circuit Court seeking to deny payment, alleging Heasley and his crew may have had lines in the water before the allowed start time on Aug. 9 and otherwise cheated.

Before such a mammoth payout, the tourney requires that the winner pass a polygraph test. Officials say in their lawsuit that Heasley failed two lie detector tests, as did his boat's captain and shipmates. Tournament officials have told the court “not one person on defendant Heasley’s vessel, ‘Kallianassa,’ passed a polygraph exam,” WTOP reports.

The tourney was held Aug. 8-12.

The fish that are weighed in for the tournament — 23 white marlin total were weighed in last week, in addition to others — are filleted, and most of the meat is donated to a local food bank in Maryland.

In Ocean City, MD, at the 43rd annual White Marlin Open, the winning white marlin at the heart of the court fight, all 76.5 pounds of it, put the owner and crew of the winning boat in line for a payout of $2.8 million. If resolved, it will be the largest payout ever for a fish.

Patch Editors Karen Wall and Deb Belt contributed to this story.

Photo of $2.818 million prize marlin in question, courtesy of White Marlin Open