96 Boats

The “Early Bird” registration incentive was added.  One ticket for each month  before June went into a $5,000 drawing.  The tournament purse reached $800,000.  The legal limit for blue marlin set at 100”, one inch above federal guidelines.  Harris Garner aboard the “Summer Breeze II” took top honors with a 562 lb. blue marlin.  Wogan Badcock fishing on the boat “Sea Reaper III” took second place in the marlin division with a 338 lb. blue.  The “Sea Reaper III” also won the top boat award tagging 7 billfish.  “Blue” was definitely the color of the day, as Rick Harris on the local Ocean Springs, MS boat “Grand Sun” brought a hefty 646.5 lb. bluefin tuna to the scales.  There were 31 blue marlin, 5 white marlin, and 1 sailfish tagged and released.

Blue Marlin

First
Summer Breeze II – Harris Garner – 562.0 lbs

Second
Sea Reaper III – Wogan Badcock  – 338.8 lbs

Tuna

First
Grand Son – Rick Harris – 648.5 lbs

Second
Tar Baby – John Harper – 178.2 lbs

Third
Happy Hour – David Branton – 166.9 lbs

Dolphin

First
Think N Thang – Morgan Ryan – 56.4 lbs

Second
Adventurous – Burcher Gammage – 55.3 lbs

Third
Waste’n Away IV – Rick Day – 53.9 lbs

Wahoo

First
Patriot – Sheri Walsingham – 77.5 lbs

Second
Crossfire – Gary Harvey – 77.3 lbs

Third
Bad Intentions – Ted Bukaske – 71.2 lbs