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With nearly 10,000 votes cast during the six weeks of Marlin Madness 2024, one team marched relentlessly through each round, gaining support and attracting new fans with each passing week. It won the coveted Gulf Coast bracket and faced strong competition from the winners in the East Coast, International and Florida divisions, eventually emerging triumphant in the final championship round. That team is Aquaviva, led by Keith Johnson. What follows is Johnson’s story of how it qualified for this year’s championship.
Last year, I asked my childhood friend Darrick Elmore if he would like to fish the Pensacola International Billfish Tournament with me. Darrick and I were close when we were kids and teens, but grew apart as we established families and careers. Although we live in the same town of Pensacola, Florida, our daily lives often limit our time together to maybe one weekend every few years. I had asked him to fish the Pensacola Big Game Fishing Club’s annual tournament with me as a way to spend some quality time together. Although he’s an avid inshore angler, Darrick had never ventured offshore and also never caught a billfish, so placing in the tournament would be secondary to just having a good time.
The tournament began at noon on a Thursday with a shotgun start and ended Saturday evening with the weigh-in. My boat is a 2001 29-foot Century powered by twin 300 hp Yamahas. In the realm of marlin tournaments, it’s a very small boat. We don’t have autopilot, air conditioning or even a working head. Knowing this, I suggested the crew would consist of just the two of us.
Fortunately, the weather forecast could not have been better, with seas less than 2 feet for the entire weekend. We decided to stay offshore, which would be a challenge in itself due to our limited fuel capacity. While the other boats headed to fish either the rigs or the distant destinations like the DeSoto Canyon or Lloyd’s Ridge, we put the lines in just 26 nautical miles south of Pensacola Pass. About an hour after we started fishing, we hooked our first billfish—a white marlin. We were able to make quick work of this one on a 50W and went back to trolling until we reached an offshore canyon where we would set up to swordfish all night. The tournament has a bonus of $10,000 for the largest swordfish as an added incentive. Around 10 p.m., Darrick caught his first swordfish. It was a small fish, around 50 inches short length, but it was another first for him.
The next morning, we started trolling again back up to the north. Around 10 a.m., I noticed a bill swatting our daisy chain, which soon resulted in a hookup on a dink ballyhoo on the long rigger—blue marlin! After more than an hour, I was able to leader the fish. Because we knew it would be close to the tournament’s minimum, we elected to take the release points and let it go. Darrick added a blue marlin to his tally.
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That night we caught another swordfish, which we released. In the morning, we realized we just needed a sailfish for a super slam. I explained that sailfish are not that common in the northern Gulf at that time of year but that we’d give it a shot. An hour later, Darrick says he thinks we have weeds on the teaser, which results in a bite on the long rigger. It’s not until I grab the leader that I realize it’s a sailfish. Now we’re ecstatic—Darrick has caught a blue marlin, a white marlin, two swordfish and a sailfish! We elect to troll toward home to conserve our limited fuel. As we reach the 131 Hole, about 30 miles south of the pass, the shotgun line pops from the clip, and it’s another blue marlin, and another release for Darrick.
The video judge confirmed all of the catches back at the dock. Later that night, we realized no blue marlin were killed and the tournament champions would be decided on release points. It was then we realized we had won. We were the champion team, top small boat and top club boat. I was truly humbled by the camaraderie of the other teams that congratulated us on the victory. It’s been an epic ride, only to be capped by winning Marlin Madness.
