A lot of luck. That’s what Jeremy Duffie said he and his brother Jon, along with their crew, had earlier this month when they reeled in the winning billfish at the white Marlin Open in Ocean City, Maryland.
Jeremy and his brother, who is the captain of the boat, won $4.5 million at the 49th annual event recognized as the World’s Largest and Richest Billfish Tournament. Their winning marlin weighed 77 1/2 pounds and took about 35 minutes to reel in.
The two are graduates of the Landon School in Bethesda. Jeremy Duffie is president of Duffie Cos., a multifaceted real estate company. Jon Duffie owns Duffie Boatworks, a boat-building company on the Eastern Shore.
Jeremy Duffie told the DMV Download not only was luck on their side to bring in the big fish but also believes it was his family’s turn.
“We’ve been fishing a lot a lot of years, and it’s kind of like we are in awe that we’re able to do it. And it’s kind of just nice that it was with our whole family and my sons and the whole thing,” said Duffie.
Capt. Jon Duffie built his state of the art boat named the Billfish with all the bells and whistles of the right equipment to go deep sea fishing in tournaments.
The Duffie brothers grew up in Darnestown and have been fishing since they were young boys out on a boat with their dad. Jeremy Duffie said they started to get into fishing tournaments in the mid-1980s.
Duffie says he hopes to pay some bills with the award money because tournaments cost money, and they have been boating for years. They plan to split the winnings with their crew.
“It will go into a pot. We share with all the crew and our other people so everyone got a nice piece of the pie which we are very happy about because it is life changing for some of the guys,” he said.
