Red Snapper World Championship

The third annual Orange Beach World Championship Red Snapper Tournament opened last Friday (April 21, 2006) in Orange Beach, Alabama to record crowds. The largest number of participants in a single day, a total of 1500, fished on opening day. And no wonder with cash prizes in the thousands. In fact the first prize winner will be awarded $25,000 and winners of second through sixth prize will receive a total of $36,000. In the event someone catches a new world record red snapper $500,000 will be given to that lucky angler. A Nissan Titan truck will be the prize for a new state record red snapper. I'd say these are pretty good incentives to buy a $5 ticket and pay for a deep-sea charter.

I was unable to attend the opening day events but one of my team members went out on a large charter boat, "Miss Celeste", from Zeke's Marina. He reports a fabulous day of fishing and photography. No one on that boat caught the largest fish of the day but he captured some shots of some large catches at the weigh-in at Zeke's Marina in Orange Beach. My plans before the tournament ends on May 21, 2006 are to visit the weigh-in station to view the exhilaration as the boats arrive with their big fish.

It really is exciting that our community hosts the world's largest bottom fishing tournament. Lots of media are present, both TV and various publication representatives, to report from the event.

Before the fun ends make your plans to visit the Alabama Gulf Coast and contact Meyer Real Estate for accommodations. You will be happy you found time to fish in this fun event or at least that you watched the fish arrive at the dock. Maybe you'll catch the big one and go back home with extra cash.