MONSTER HAUL OF RED SNAPPER
We All Won
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: During 30 days of fishing in the spring of 2004,
more than 8,000 anglers on 95 boats participated in
the Orange Beach Red Snapper World Championship and
caught big snapper with more than 28 of them weighing
over 25-pounds each. This year’s Championship
will take place April 21 – May 20, 2005 with headquarters
at Zeke’s Marina. Total tournament monies will
be $500,000 with a $200,000 bonus if a new world ‘s
record red snapper is caught, but anglers only will
pay $5 per fisherman per day to enter the tournament.
All proceeds from the tournament will go to support
the building of public reefs and conducting red snapper
research. You can buy tickets to participate at Blue
Water Ships Stores in Foley, Ala., Outcast Bait and
Tackle in Pensacola, Fla., and in Orange Beach, Ala.
at J&M Tackle, Orange Beach Marina, Outcast Marina,
Sam’s Stop & Shop, San Roc Cay  Marina,
Sportsman Marina, the Rod Room, Top Gun Tackle, Trent
Marina and Zeke’s Landing Marina. To learn more
about the Championship, visit www.gulffishing.net
where you also can see a list of captains and their
contact information; or call: (251) 981-8565; the Orange
Beach Fishing Association at (251) 981-2300; or the
Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau (www.orangebeach.com)
at (800) 745-SAND.
Everyone who fishes the Gulf of Mexico won at the
2004 Orange Beach Red Snapper World Championship. As
a result of this tournament, Alabama’s Marine
Resources Division (AMRD) received $50,000, which the
Division matched with a 3-to-1 federal grant that produced
another $150,000 for a total of $200,000. This money
bought 210 pyramid-style concrete artificial reefs,
which AMRD deployed offshore. For more information on
their locations visit, www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/saltwater/where/artificial-reefs/
The tournament also gave the Orange Beach Fishermen’s
Association’s Political Action Committee $50,000
from the tournament to use to lobby for recreational
fishing legislation. Too, the National Marine Fisheries
Service learned more scientific information on big red
snapper from this 30-day tournament than had been gathered
in the previous more than 50 years. “Our goal
for the tournament is to raise enough money to  purchase
and deploy 1,000 new artificial reefs in the Gulf of
Mexico off of Orange Beach in the next three years,”
says Chase Tatham, tournament organizer. “We believe
that the more habitat we can build for the red snapper,
the more red snapper the waters out of Orange Beach
can produce, not only for our fishermen, but for anglers
throughout the Gulf.”
You can contact Tatham at tathamm@hotmail.com
or ctatham@teamtatham.com
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