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