2026 Orange Beach Billfish Classic — Final Recap

The 30th annual Orange Beach Billfish Classic ran the back half of May 2026 at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama, drawing a record fleet of 62 boats and a prize purse pushing $1.6 million — the largest field, and one of the largest payouts, in the tournament's three-decade history.

The story of the week was a 595.8-pound blue marlin caught May 16 aboard Set A Course, a 64-foot Viking out of Bay Point in Panama City Beach. Captained by Destin's BJ Teems and fished by angler and owner David Pearson of Marietta, Georgia, the fish — landed on a pitch bait after a 4.5-hour fight — was the largest blue marlin brought to the scales all week and locked up the tournament championship.

Tournament Champion: Set A Course

Under OBBC rules, the heaviest qualifying blue marlin is the tournament champion. Pearson's 595.8-pounder earned Set A Course the title and a $240,850 payout across the blue marlin and qualifying jackpot categories, per the Destin Log's reporting on the win.

According to Teems' account in InTheBite, the crew picked the fish off the surface with their sonar and second-look pitch bait — heavy grass conditions had pushed teams away from traditional pulled-lure spreads for much of the week. Teems backed his 64-foot Viking down on the fish "about as fast as I could make that 64′ Viking go," with the marlin staying surprisingly shallow — rarely sounding past 100 feet — through most of the fight on an 80W Tiagra and a relatively light 220-pound leader.

Never Settle stacks payouts across three divisions

Capt. Stan Blackman's Never Settle program out of Destin had arguably the most versatile week in the field. The Destin Log reported that Never Settle released three blue marlin in the catch-and-release division, finished second in tuna with a 556.6-pounder (angler Jim Murdica), and won the dolphin division with a 31.8-pound bull (angler Dylan Doubleday). Combined, those finishes paid out $61,920.

Catch & Release: Metal Masher finishes second with four blues

The 72-foot Viking Metal Masher, captained first-year skipper Landon Bell with angler Baker Tinney on the rod, released four blue marlin to take second in the Release Division — a strong follow-up to the team's win two weeks earlier at the Louisiana Gulf Coast Billfish Classic. InTheBite's profile of the Bell/Metal Masher program characterized the OBBC finish as "early momentum" for a team running its first full season together.

Notable stories

For Pearson, the win was a first — both his first tournament aboard Set A Course and his first marquee billfish title, per the Destin Log. The light leader and shallow fight made for an unusual capture given the fish's class.

Pre-tournament reporting from Fox10 underscored how favorable the offshore window was. Capt. Brennen Moore of Fat Chick told the station forecasts were calling for "three feet or less" — clean water that let crews push far west of the Mississippi River corridor in search of bigger fish. Tournament organizer Jim Cox had also flagged that with bluefin tuna season open in the Gulf, the scales could see "a five, six, seven, eight-hundred-pound tuna." None hit the weigh tower this year — but at 556.6 pounds, Never Settle's yellowfin came closer to that headline number than most.

How OBBC scoring works

The Orange Beach Billfish Classic splits its prize money evenly between the heaviest blue marlin division and the catch-and-release billfish division, paying 50/30/20 to first, second, and third place in each. Tuna, dolphin, and wahoo run as optional jackpots. The largest qualifying blue marlin is the tournament champion; if no blue marlin meets the 107-inch minimum, the top catch-and-release boat takes the title.

What's next on the Gulf calendar

The Cajun Canyons Billfish Classic and Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic round out the early-summer Gulf billfish stretch in the weeks following OBBC. The Tournament Updates hub will track each event as live scoring posts.

Sources

• 595-pound blue marlin wins Florida Panhandle crew $240,850 at tourney (Destin Log, May 20, 2026)
• Heavy Hitter: Captain BJ Teems' 595-Pound Gulf Blue (InTheBite, May 2026)
• Furuno Captain on a Run: Capt. Landon Bell and Metal Masher Building Early Momentum in the Gulf Division (InTheBite, May 2026)
• Record field competes in 30th Orange Beach Billfish Classic (Fox10 TV, May 14, 2026)
• 2026 Orange Beach Billfish Classic — Live Scoring & Final Leaderboard (CatchStat)
• Orange Beach Billfish Classic — Official Site