Kuhn Gulf Marlin
Much of fishing success can be chocked up to luck. Jeremy Powers recently had both great, and well, bad luck. The stroke of good luck struck when Powers, fishing in the recent Blue Marlin Grand Championship at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama, bested the long-standing state record of 24 years with his 789.8 pound trophy.
Quite an accomplishment. However, his luck changed for the worse less than two hours later, when Chris Ferrara of Biloxi, Mississippi beat Powers new state record, dragging a fish to the scales that weighed in at 845.8 pounds. The haul earned top honors and enshrined Ferrara in the Alabama state record book for the largest marlin on record. The fish eclipsed the old record by nearly 66 pounds. Ferrara’s record fish took almost seven hours to winch in and more than once the team had close shaves with catastrophe.
At one point during the epic battle Ferrara’s fish managed to swim under a passing ship pulling seismographic cable. The ship passed within 50 yards of Ferrara’s 60-foot Hatteras forcing Ferrara to free spool the reel and let the fish swim under the ship. Once it cleared, the battle was back on. Ferrara’s Reel Fire team consisted of Capt. Michael Roberto, first mate Eric Chandler, Kate Ferrara, Connor Ferrara, Ivan Duke and Ken Dunham.
The record haul was worth a $304,125 payday while Power’s Rising Sons team took home $123,385 for their second place catch. Meat from marlin harvested during the competition was donated to a food bank in the Mobile, Alabama area.
