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updated March 3, 2008
TOURNAMENT HISTORY |
HIGHLIGHTS 1984 to TODAY |
HALL OF FAME - PAST WINNERS
The largest blue marlin ever weighed in Florida, 1,046.0 lbs., was caught by Conrad Hawkins on the Lucky 2 in 2001. The second largest blue marlin ever weighed in Florida, 998.6 lbs., was caught by Barry Carr on the Sea Wolf in 2006. Both fish were weighed at the Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament. Now that’s a record no other tournament can equal!
 Twenty-four years ago a group of local Panama City fishing enthusiasts proposed a billfishing contest to the owners of the Bay Point Yacht & Country Club. The idea wasn't exactly new. Bay Point had sponsored numerous tournaments over the years, but the ownership of Bay Point changed hands frequently in the 1970s and early 1980s and no tournament was able to establish itself as an ongoing event. In 1984, however, plans were announced to expand the Bay Point marina, refurbish and expand Bay Point's clubhouse and build a second golf course within the resort as well as a Marriott hotel and numerous new residential developments. Clearly, Bay Point was on the move. All of a sudden there was some urgency to put the marina and the resort "on the map".
That urgency allowed harbormaster Scott Burt to convince Bill Spann, Bay Point's Managing Partner, to invest $50,000 to sponsor the Inaugural Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament. In the weeks before the tournament it appeared that the whole investment might be squandered, and that even more money would have to be anted up to pay tournament expenses. The invitations went out as planned but received virtually no response. To break even, fifty boats were needed. The $500 entry fee was essentially  committed to a guaranteed purse. By mid-June only fourteen boats had sent a check. Between the purse and expenses for entertainment, meals, gifts, staff and administration it appeared that initial $50,000 was on the way to costing Bay Point upwards of $100,000.
Fortunately for Scott and Bill the field of fifty was filled at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute. Just as fortunately, a number of Bay Point's friends joined the tournament as sponsors and helped defray the expenses required to put on a first class event. Within three years the tournament's guaranteed purse grew to $250,000 and by 2007 almost $1 million. There's no question that an invitation to participate in the Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament is a great deal more difficult to come by today than it was back in 1984.
 There have been other changes too. The day Joey Chapman weighed in the first blue marlin ever brought to the Tournament dock there were few spectators there to offer congratulations. Today tens of thousands flock to the Bay Point Marina to take part in the festivities which surround the tournament and cheer as each fish is weighed on Friday and Saturday evening. The Wednesday and Thursday night Captain & Fleet Party, once a sleepy affair brought to an early evening conclusion, has become Bay County's party of the year.
The rules, too, have changed, with a much greater emphasis placed on conservation. Sailfish and white marlin have disappeared from the leader board. In 1984, a one hundred pound blue marlin was a legal tournament catch. Today all blue marlin are released and the use of circle hooks is mandatory. Ever bigger prizes, bigger fish, bigger parties and bigger crowds are all a part of this tournament's history.
 Other changes, particularly in the last few years, have been made to extend the success and popularity of the tournament. Fishing hours have been extended, events have become more focused on the entertainment of tournament participants and sponsors, services have been improved and fishing rules have been strengthened. Perhaps most importantly, an increasing portion of the tournament's revenues have been devoted to charity.
In this, the twenty-fifth year of the Tournament, it can truly be said that no billfish competition attracts more attention, or is more associated with good sportsmanship, charity, conservation and fellowship than the Bay Point Invitational Billfish Tournament. We're twenty-five years young, and we plan to be here for as long as men and women yearn to be at sea, tempted by the sport of hunting great fish.
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