Michael Jordan might be retired from mainstream competitive sports, but he’s still playing for keeps in the world of competitive saltwater fishing. In late August, Jordan’s team participated in the 32nd annual MidAtlantic Fishing Tournament based in Cape May, New Jersey. Fishing aboard the Catch 23, Jordan’s one-of-a-kind sportfishing yacht, the team went up against 181 other boats and finished near the top of the crowded field. The crew placed third in the white marlin division, catching a 75-pound marlin and winning just over $460,000 in prize money.
The Catch 23 team’s top marlin was just one pound shy of the category’s second-place finisher, and 12 pounds shy of the biggest white marlin weighed at the event. They caught their money fish on Aug. 24, on the second-to-last day of the five-day tournament.
Although Jordan owns the Catch 23 and fishes in several offshore tournaments every year, His Airness was conspicuously absent from the weigh-in photo that the MidAtlantic Tournament shared to its Facebook page. The photo credits Jimmy David as the angler who caught the 75-pound marlin, and Stetson Turney as the captain.
The organizers of the tournament did not respond to requests for comment, but several Facebook users commented on the photo, asking “Where’s the boss?” and “Where is Mike?”
A few others responded to these comments and claimed that MJ was spending time with his family in Italy while the tournament was taking place. Another chimed in, saying “[Jordan] rarely fishes the [MidAtlantic Tournament],” in part because “he always fishes the White Marlin Open and the MidAtlantic is only a week later.”
According to the White Marlin Open’s website, Jordan was one of nine anglers who fished aboard the Catch 23 during that event. Billed as the “World’s Largest Billfish Tournament,” the five-day tournament based in Ocean City, Maryland, also has a reputation for doling out some of the largest fishing tournament payouts of all time.
Jordan’s team hooked two white marlin during this year’s White Marlin Open, but they failed to boat either of the fish and never made it to the weigh-in. This makes their third-place finish in the MidAtlantic—along with the nearly half a million in prize money that came with it—all the sweeter.