Blue Marlin Grand Championship weigh-ins July 12-13 at The Wharf
Blue Marlin Grand Championship weigh-ins July 12-13 at The Wharf
Public events related to the “Greatest Show in Sportfishing,” the Blue Marlin Grand Championship, are scheduled July 12-13 at The Wharf in Orange Beach, with fan friendly weigh-ins, hosted by Jim Cox and Kelly Finley, set for 5-7 p.m. on July 12 and 5-8 p.m. on July 13. Weigh-ins will be held under the marlin on Main St. Boats will depart The Wharf Marina at noon on July 11 and proceed to Perdido Pass.
Last year, the 57 teams competed for nearly $1.6M in tournament prize money and, including catch-and-release, caught 42 blue marlin, along with two white marlin and one sailfish.
The tourney has raised over $200,000 to date for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For more info, visit gulfcoasttriplecrown.com.
Big-game anglers will compete to catch the biggest Sailfish, Blue Marlin, Dolphin, Wahoo, Spearfish, Yellowfin Tuna and White Marlin.
The tourney debuted in 2012 at The Wharf and quickly became a must-fish event on the highly competitive Gulf of Mexico tournament circuit.
Wharf owner Art Favre’s A Work of Art team won the inaugural event with Kevin Courville in the chair for the first-place blue marlin, which weighed 665.4 pounds. Eleven years later to the exact day, Courville and A Work of Art claimed the title again on Favre’s 92-foot Viking, A Work of Art (captained by Jason Buck). Last year’s winning 597.4-pound (121 inch) blue marlin made Courville the first two-time champion in tourney history.
“So much has changed here at The Wharf in the past 11 years since we first won this tournament,” Farve said at the awards presentation. “But what hasn’t changed is the spirit of competition at this event.
“There are so many great captains and crews that you have to compete against to win here, and we feel very fortunate to be back here at Marlin Circle celebrating tonight.”