Orange Beach Boat, Miss Celeste, Reels in Top Honors in Billfish Classic

Miss Celeste, a charter boat from Orange Beach, AL picked up top honors in four categories in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. The boat pulled two prize fish from the central Gulf of Mexico, a 631.7-pound Blue Marlin and a 151.4-pound tuna, claiming two first places – including the $100,000 top prize. The Classic ended early Sunday morning, June 12 at the Isle of Capri Resort in Biloxi.

Jerry Pyron of Ridgeland, Miss., landed the 631.7-pound blue marlin that netted the victory and the huge payday. Charles Shumate, a native of Meridian, MS and currently of Anderson, Indiana, reeled in the 151.4-pound prize winning yellow fin tuna.

This is the first time in the history of this tournament that one boat has ever won more than one of the four fish categories. In addition, the Miss Celeste received honors for the Top Crew and the Top Boat.

Miss Celeste Captain, Maurice “Fitz” Fitzsimons, said the trip was a high school graduation present for Thad Stewart from his dad, David Stewart, one of the partners in the boat. Both Thad and David Stewart, currently from Edmond, Oklahoma, are natives of Meridian, MS.

“They just thought it would be a nice gift,” Fitzsimons said. “It turned out to be more of a graduation present than they expected.” Thad Stewart ended up catching an 80-pound yellow fin tuna on the trip.

Captain Fitz’s last-minute decision to go due south paid handsomely for the boat.

“We thought about going southwest, but we looked at the Fisherman’s Report and picked a spot about 180 miles south that showed the blue, blue water,” Fitzsimons said. “We picked out a floating rig, and a supply boat told us about tuna jumping that afternoon. He said there were 20 acres of tuna.”

When the boat got to the spot, the captain said he knew something was about to happen.

“We knew it’d be on,” Fitz said. “There was no bait, so we knew there were billfish in there chasing the tuna. I told them to get ready. We had a fish on within five minutes. We were dragging natural bait.”

Fishing started at 5:31 a.m. The first fish was a 50-pound tuna caught by Brett Smith, the second an 80-pounder which was caught by Thad Stewart, followed by Charles Shumates’ winning yellow fin, which was followed by Mike Fordham’s 50-pound tuna.

The fifth bite was different. The time was now 8:40 a.m.

“We thought it was another tuna for a second,” Fitz said. “Then it stripped line and all of a sudden jumped. We knew we had a potential winner then. We cleared the deck, cleared all the lines, and the fight was on for an hour and 10 minutes.

“We were probably three quarters of a mile away from the rig and kept working it away so we wouldn’t have to worry about sharks. The only thing I was worried about was the angler. He was a little older and a big man.”

It was Pyron’s first billfishing trip and his first time in the chair. Mate Jerod Tatham and fellow fisherman Mike Fordham kept Pyron cooled off during the fight with a water hose and then ice-cold bottled water. Jeff Colley Jr. and Tim Rendell instructed and encouraged Pyron for the next 70 minutes. The crew played a major role in landing the award winning marlin and they truly deserved the Top Crew award, which they received Sunday morning at the awards ceremony.

“The best thing is to have somebody who hasn’t done this before,” Colley said. “Experienced bill fishermen tend to want to do it their way. This guy listened to everything we said. You have to stay on him, encouraging him. All we did the whole time was urge him on. You’ve got to tell him things like, ‘You’ve only got 50 yards to go,’ when you know it’s more like 300.

Fitzsimons said everything worked perfectly on the big blue, which completely cleared the water twice and made four other attempts. “Everything that could go right went right,” Fitz said. “They stuck the first gaff, stuck the second gaff, and dragged the fish around to the tuna door. When we got the fish in the door, the hook fell out of its mouth.

“He was whipped. He said he didn’t know who was going to give up first.”

The 121-inch blue is the largest ever caught on the Miss Celeste.

“I’d have never been able to do anything if it hadn’t have been for the way the captain handled the boat and the way the crew handled me,” Pyron said.

“When we got the fish in, I knew it would lose five percent a day,” Fitz said of the weight. “ I told them we were going home right then. We weren’t going to take a chance.”

The closest challenger to the Miss Celeste’s prize catch was a 610.7-pound blue marlin caught by Chris Ayo on the Petite Marie. The Miss Celeste is available for charter at Zeke’s Marina, Orange Beach, AL. For more information contact Captain Fitz at www.missceleste.com.