Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic - History 2002

106 Boats
            Bill McLellan, the Classic’s Tournament Coordinator since its inception in 1997, founder of Marlin Magazine and a man of vision in the sportfishing industry died after a lengthy battle with cancer.  Eleven months after the Gulf of Mexico’s blue marlin record was broken by Conrad Hawkins at Bay Point, Barry Carr on the boat “Sea Wolff” set a new Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi State record with 1054.6 lb. blue marlin.  A record crowd, along with the media from surrounding areas, came out to view the huge blue marlin and waited to see what other surprises might be brought to the scales.  No other records were broken, but the audience was held captive by the many large tuna, dolphin, and wahoo that were weighed in one Saturday.  There were 18 blue marlin, 6 white marlin and 3 sailfish tagged and released.

Blue Marlin

First              
Sea Wolff - Barry Carr - 1054.6 lbs       

Second          
Sea Hunter - Robert Weaver - 548.6 lbs     

 

Tuna

First              
Trust Fun - Johnathan Guarisco - 192.4 lbs    

Second          
Westerly - Jamie Walley - 184.5 lbs    

Third            
Bella Maria - Craig Cole - 181.3 lbs       

 

Dolphin

First              
Strike It Rick - Mike Blake - 49.8 lbs

Second          
Gunfighter - R. Tommaseo - 42.8 lbs       

Third            
Sea Spray - Roy Boroughs - 42.1 lbs      

 

Wahoo

First              
Pipe Dream - Kenneth Walker - 96.7 lbs      

Second          
Punch List - Michael Clayton - 74.7 lbs      

Third            
Dreamin On - Bob Struwe - 69.4 lbs