ORANGE BEACH, Alabama – A monstrous blue marlin hooked and boated 150 miles off Louisiana’s coast made a monstrous splash May 19 in one of the most prestigious billfish tournament along the Gulf Coast.

Seeing was believing for Brian Stover, a veteran billfish fisherman. When the 776.4-pound blue marlin’s head emerged after a 4 ½-hour tug-of-war with the Georgia angler in the fighting chair aboard the 66-foot long Mollie, giving captain and crew its first look, Stover told AL.com, “At that moment, everybody was seeing what I had been feeling. That thing was like a dinosaur coming out of the water. The head was huge.”

Stover insisted during the struggle’s duration the fish would meet the minimum length of 107 inches to have it weighed 250 miles to the northeast in Orange Beach, site of the Orange Beach Billfish Classic held May 16-21. Crew and captain weren’t so sure.

The county commissioner from Paulding County, Georgia, was spot on in his assessment. Later, the 10 ½-foot long blue marlin — iced continuously the rest of the trip (the big boat has its own icemaker) to keep its weight – got its day in the sun when the crew hoisted it on the official tournament scale at Wharf Marina.

Stover’s blue marlin was the winning fish and the heaviest blue marlin in the tournament’s 27-year history. The first-place finish was worth $183,000.

Mollie’s captain, Jeff Shoults, a 30-plus year veteran of billfish trip in the Gulf, was honored as the 2021 Gulf of Mexico “Captain of the Year” by professional sportfishing magazine, In The Bite. He had his boat, which he runs out of Destin, Florida, in the right place at the right time that morning off Louisiana’s coast.

Modern marine electronics played a deciding role in getting the new tournament record to eat, Shoults told Outdoor Life’s Bob McNally in a story posted May 22 on outdoorlife.com.

“It was just before daybreak, and with our sonar we (saw) a big fish about 200 feet deep. We marked the fish, got close to it, and sent down a live 5- to 8-pound blackfin tuna bait. But the marlin didn’t take it.”

The crew dropped the natural bait four more times, he said, pinpointing the fish each time. On the fifth attempt at 6 a.m., the blue marlin blitzed the blackfin tuna, then swallowed it and the 12/0 circle hook.

A blistering run ensued as the fish pulled approximately 400 yards of 130-pound test line off the Shimano Tiagra reel, jumping only once on its initial run, according to Shoults. That was the fighting fish’s first and last acrobatic leap as it battled deep and stubbornly.

“For about two hours the fish was close to our boat, less than 60 feet deep, and we could see it plainly. My mate, Casey Wherhahem, had the leader to the fish 15 to 20 times, trying to pull it close to the boat. But every time the fish surged away, and we had to fight it in again and again,” Shoults told Outdoor Life. “Finally, though, the sun got up about 10 a.m., and we saw the fish was very deep-bodied and broad across the back. We knew it was a giant. At 10:30, over four hours after we hooked it, Casey got ahold of the leader, the fish rolled sideways, and we got her close to the boat.”

The captain said it took two crewmen, Jacob Castle and Colton Guthrie, to hit the fish with flying gaffs and haul the giant aboard.

“It’s the biggest marlin I’ve caught in the Gulf, and I knew we had a chance to win the tournament,” Shoults said about the catch, which also happened to be Stover’s personal best by more than 300 pounds.

Mollie stayed offshore one more night, then headed back to the marina on May 20. The crowd was treated to a true huge denizen of the deep.

The Orange Beach Billfish Classic generously gives back to the sport. Over its 27 years it has donated more than $730,000 to organizations dedicated to the conservation and health of the billfish population.