Wharton junior Jack Hotz will be returning to school a lot richer this year - thanks to a gigantic fish.
Hotz caught an 82-lb. white marlin in the White Marlin Open in early August, winning the top prize of $1.5 million.
Hotz was fishing in the Ocean City, Md.-based tournament on his family's 62-ft. boat, "True Grit."
The competition is the world's largest solely for white marlins, with 428 boats participating this year and $3.14 million awarded in prize money, said Jim Motsko, director of the White Marlin Open.
In the days preceding the prize-winning catch, Hotz and his father "lost a few fish," and their fishing "wasn't going so well," Hotz said.
Their frustration was compounded when their vessel ran into a large piece of wood floating 60 miles off the coast of Ocean City.
"It bent our propeller," Hotz said. "We could only go about 15 miles per hour when we usually go about 45."
But their luck soon changed.
An hour after hitting the driftwood, Hotz hooked what he knew was an enormous fish.
"It took about an hour to get it in," he said.
Once they had gotten the fish onto the boat and measured it, True Grit's crew directed the vessel back into harbor. But because of the broken propeller, they endured "a long ride in," Hotz said.
At the docks, Hotz and the boat's crew had to wait for the weighing scales to become available. They were guessing the fish weighed 70 lbs. and expecting a third place finish.
So when the catch weighed in at 82 lbs., Hotz couldn't believe it.
"It's kind of unrealistic," he said of winning first place.
This year was Hotz's fifth participating in the open, which has been occurring for 33 years.
Competition was stiff: Second and third place went to an 81.5-lb. fish and an 80 lb. fish.
"This is the first year we've ever had three white marlins weigh in at 80 lbs. or heavier," Motsko said.
Rolfe Gudelsky, the operations manager of the Ocean City Fishing Center - which charters fishing boats - said the tournament is "a huge event" because "it attracts the top fishermen from all over the world."
The tournament's prize money comes mostly from entry fees, which start at $900. Hotz entered several categories -called "calcuttas" - but caught his prize-winning fish in the category with a $5,000 entry fee.
Even though Hotz caught the fish, the money he won was divided between everyone on the boat that day, which included the captain, a mate, Hotz's two cousins and his father.
Hotz said he doesn't have plans to spend the money anytime soon.
Fishing will probably remain just a hobby for Hotz, as he hopes to work for his father's concrete-construction company after graduating.
