Ocean City tuna tournament tops 111 boats, $1.4 million payout

The Ocean City Tuna Tournament is already throwing serious heat at the docks: 111 boats are entered and the payout stack has reached $1,422,270, a number that puts the 39th-anniversary event squarely in the heavyweight tier. The official site calls it the world’s largest tuna tournament, and the current field matches last year’s 111-boat count while reinforcing just how much pressure this event puts on the Ocean City grounds.

That size changes the fishing. The tournament runs July 9 through July 12, 2026, but boats may fish only two of the three days, which forces crews to decide early where to spend their time and fuel. Lines go in at 7:00 a.m. and come out at 3:00 p.m., and at least one representative from each boat must attend the captain’s meeting. If the fleet keeps building, the optional remote scale at Sunset Marina could become part of the operational picture as much as the weigh station itself.

The entry structure tells the same story. Ocean City is not built around one lucky giant fish; it is built to reward consistency, box quality, and smart category targeting. The 2026 form spreads money across sponsor-backed divisions including Tower Marine and The Mortgage Link for daily single heaviest tuna, Regulator Marine and PYY Marine for daily heaviest stringer, Cape Horn for dolphin and wahoo, Harbor Court and Cato Wholesale Fuels for on-the-board awards, Yellowfin Boats, American Fishing Wire and Twisted Tea for split awards, and Ocean City Fishing Center and Micky Fins for no-sonar divisions. It also includes specialty prizes such as a first-200-pound tuna award and a 37-and-under division.

That sponsor web is part of the tournament’s identity, and so is the payoff scale. Pre-registering on or before July 5 earns a $200 Micky Fins gift card, and Atlantic Tackle’s biggest tuna prize is a $5,000 gift card. The recent results show why crews pay attention: Following Seas won single-largest tuna in 2025 with a 230-pound fish and $411,335, while Fly'N Fish took heaviest stringer with 408 pounds over two days and $357,460. In 2024, Shotski won heaviest stringer with 412.5 pounds over two days, and Wrecker’s 191.5-pound tuna was worth $198,475.

The current entry list says Ocean City is headed into another full-throttle run. With 111 boats already on the board and more than $1.4 million in payouts, this is the kind of tuna tournament where the grounds get crowded, the docks get loud, and every decision offshore starts to matter before the first line ever goes in.