The Orange Beach Billfish Classic (7/31/09-8/1/09)

We caught and released a white marlin (and had another jump off after half dozen or so leaps, which would have put us in third place on billfish) and caught the third place wahoo (40 pounds) worth $11,000, two dolphin in the the 20 to 25 pound range, and a football blackfin. It was snotty (3 to 5) going out Thursday night and on the first day. Laying on the chute Friday night was a primer on understanding the phrases "snap roll" and "wallowing in the trough". The second day was much better weather, and we were in cobalt blue water with a weedline to die for, including beaucoup bait, the usual birds and two frigate birds working as hard as we were. When we pulled in the outriggers, we were fishing near the Thunder Horse rig, 136 nm from Orange Beach. We quickly discovered that something was FUBAR in the fuel transfer system, so we could not access the two auxiliary tanks. We did some red neck calkeelashuns on the back of a napkin, and decided we could make it, which we did, with some fuel to spare. It was a great fishing trip in that we all returned in the boat in which we left, no one required professional medical treatment, and we caught some fish.