By Charlie Nelson

The most competitive off-shore fishing tour in the Gulf is finally over. The World Billfish Series Gulf Coast Division concluded at the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club’s Labor Day Tournament (Orange Beach, AL), boosting angler Michael Clayton towards the top of the leader-board with 1600 billfish points. That Labor Day, after trolling uncomfortable seas, my dad’s boat returned to Orange Beach Marina with neither a blue marlin on deck nor a completed tag card.

For the first time that year, the High C’s came in empty handed, ending an impressive catch of 1 blue marlin for five consecutive events. However, no one told the anglers and crew aboard; it was time to celebrate.

The 2003 WBS Gulf Coast Division tour began with the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club’s Memorial Day Tournament. It was the first big Gulf event the High C’s had fished with our new captain, veteran Chuck Darring. My dad knew in hiring Chuck that he was a great captain, but we often wondered beforehand how he would pair with our first mate Darnell Davidson–one of the most experienced and knowledgeable mates in the sport. Would one be able to take the back seat and let the other do his job? Could they both work simultaneously, focusing only on their own task at hand? Needless to say along with second mate Mo Shaver, the crew did a fantastic job finding, raising, and landing the 635 lb blue marlin that brought my dad Top Male Angler and First Place Blue Marlin Awards. The High C’s Fishing Team was off to a good start.

The next tournament of the tour was the Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic out of Biloxi, Mississippi. Some claimed the seas to be a torrent fifteen to twenty feet in wave height; others told of a more realistic eight to ten feet. It really doesn’t matter if the height was at the lower number or somewhere in between; I heard more experienced captains, mates, and fishermen proclaim that it was the roughest trip they had ever experienced.

In hindsight I was lucky to have missed the tournament, due to an SAT II test I had already scheduled on the same weekend. Despite churning waters, the High C’s again hooked up with a blue marlin on the first day of the tournament. My dad, having already caught a nice fish in the Memorial Day tourney, decided to let my brother Chace catch the fish. When it became apparent that the fish was a “rat blue” (one too small to land), it was tagged quickly and the High C’s was headed towards Port Eades, LA. The plan was to spend a comfortable night in Port Eades and then to return to fishing the next morning. Mother Nature had different plans. Lightning struck the boat at sea, ruining several electronics and forcing the High C’s to return to Biloxi. My Brother’s Blue Marlin tag didn’t win him anything in the tournament, but his 500 billfish points began his quest for the WBS title with an unexpected “bang” (pardon the pun).

The New Orleans Invitational Billfish Tournament was next on the High C’s List. A three day tournament out of Port Eades, LA, this happening has possibly the most character out of any other WBS event, regardless of division. Could one ask for more when he is given blue water just off-shore, genuine Cajun cooking, and bands on the bayou for a Louisiana style get-down? Aside from the mosquitoes, Port Eades is truly a fisherman’s heaven. Here, again on the first day, the High C’s hooked up with another blue marlin. It put on a spectacular show, almost escaping catch by running under the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise.

This was such a close fight that the fish jumped into the air and hit the side of the ship as Chuck and Darnell, in yet another demonstration of skill, experience and teamwork, were able to get the fish back out into open water. It was my brother’s turn in our hourly rotation to fight the fish and so, on the second weekend in a row, Chace cranked in a blue. This time she was neither a winner nor a “rat”: a 460 lb. beauty that would bring Chace 510 billfish points to add to his total. If there was any doubt that Chace would be the High C’s angler contending to be WBS Gulf-Coast Champion, it was gone.

After taking a break from the next two WBS events, the High C’s hit the tournament trail again at the 21st Annual Bay Point Billfish Invitational. The parties being the highlight this tournament, there were no qualifying blue marlin killed and no real tag-and-release awards. It was here, however that consistency paid off another blue marlin tagged and another 450 points for Chace.
Another 450 points were tallied beside Chace’s name in the Orange Beach Billfish Classic as the High C’s tagged yet another blue.

Thus the High C’s entered the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club’s Labor Day Tournament hoping to seal the win for Chace, who had 1910 points–almost 600 points over 2nd place angler Don Gremillion. Entry into the tournament would bag Chace 50 more points, guaranteeing that it would take at least two tagged blue marlin or the largest blue caught out of Alabama for the year to knock him off the number one spot.

Thus it didn’t matter that the High C’s Marlin catching streak had ended when the boat came into port that Monday night or that Chace hadn’t placed in that tournament or the four before it. What mattered was that Chace, along with the High C’s Crew and their greatest and most noble efforts, had taken home the WBS Gulf-Coast title, out gaining everyone in all but one of the seven worldwide WBS divisions and placing as the 9th highest point holder in the world for the 2003 season. His five-year invitation to the WBS World Championship in Cabo San Lucas was secured and, at 14, he is the youngest angler ever to achieve such an accomplishment: truly something to celebrate.