The 30th annual Orange Beach Bilfish Classic took place with boats from across the Gulf competing for nearly $1.6 million in tournament prizes, reinforcing the event’s reputation as one of the premier offshore tournaments in the Gulf of Mexico.
Serving as the unofficial kickoff to the Gulf’s billfish season, this year’s tournament drew 62 boats, the largest fleet in the tournament’s history. Since its founding in 1996, the Orange Beach Billfish Classic has also become a longtime supporter of The Billfish Foundation and one of its largest supporters, advancing billfish conservation and research.
The conditions were ripe for the fleet to fish. Among the tournament’s top performers, Team Set A Course captured first place in the Blue Marlin division with an impressive 595.8-pound blue marlin. Team Never Settle earned top honors in the Tuna division with a massive 556.6-pound tuna, while A Work of Art claimed Top Catch & Release Team and the overall top spot on the leaderboard with 2,200 release points. All the fish landed did not go to waster and were sampled by scientists from Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Biological samples collected during the tournament contribute to ongoing research focused on billfish movement and genetics in the Gulf of Mexico.
This year’s event also marked the launch of TBF’s Project Gulf, a new conservation initiative led by The Billfish Foundation and supported by Garmin and Columbia PFG. The project is designed as a season-long (May – September), community-driven effort that will activate across many of the Gulf’s premier billfish tournaments.
Project Gulf brings together captains, crews, scientists, and industry partners to support research and data collection focused on blue and white marlin in the Gulf of Mexico. Through tournament participation, satellite tagging efforts, and collaborative science, the initiative aims to expand understanding of billfish movement, habitat use, and post-release survival.
As the Orange Beach Billfish Classic celebrated its 30th anniversary, we once again thank the Dorland Family and those involved with the tournament for demonstrating the important role Gulf tournaments continue to play beyond competition alone. Events like OBBC not only showcase the Gulf’s world-class fishery but also help drive the conservation and scientific research necessary to protect these species and the future of offshore recreational fishing.
