Offshore anglers in the northern Gulf of Mexico are a hardy lot. After all, they might have to run anywhere from 25 to 105 miles to find the desired cobalt-blue water. Area tournaments typically allow boats to leave the dock at midnight so lines can be in the water by dawn. But this hard-core perseverance pays off. It pays off in a big way. As in the legitimate chance to land a 1,000-pound blue marlin.

On June 14, 1985, angler Warren Culbertson, fishing a Destin billfish tournament, landed a blue marlin which tipped the scales at 980.5 pounds. To this day it still remains the largest blue caught on hook and line in the Gulf, but that record may not last forever.

During a Gulfport, Mississippi tournament this past summer, a 917-pounder, worth a potential $100,000 first prize, was caught but eventually disqualified when it was mutilated by the props as the crew tried to get the monster into the cockpit. Numerous boats reported a tremendous bite in dirty water south of the Mississippi River mouth, with some crew members seeing multiple free-swimming blue marlin weighing 500 pounds or better.

Just how good is the offshore potential off the Panhandle? Nineteen-year bluewater veteran, Steve Kaiser of Pensacola, offers this assessment:

"It's magnificent. I think it's one of the best places in the world to fish," he said, the day after he tagged and released his personal best, a blue marlin estimated to weigh 450 pounds. "That fish was just sheer power." The hookup occurred at the Nipple, a well-known ledge 28 miles out (155 degrees south of Pensacola Pass). The feisty blue took two hours and five minutes to land after eating a Sevenstrand Knucklehead lure. Kaiser was aboard his 23-foot boat, Venture, when the blue marlin rose into the spread.

"Fishing was absolutely great in the '60s and '70s," claimed Buddy Gentry, a long-time Destin charterboat captain and co-owner of G&S Boats (the company which built the well-known Hooker and Sound Machine sportfishers, of world-record fame). "We'd leave Destin and fish the Rock Cliffs. We were slow and sometimes we'd stay out all night, but the fish were so thick we didn't have to run that far. From August 15 to September 15, the whites were everywhere. From September 15 to October 15, it was non-stop sailfish. After that the blues took over. On a good day we'd catch 10 to 15 billfish. On a bad day, we'd get three. Man, those were the good old times."

With the continued bykill of billfish by tuna and swordfish longliners, it may be a while before billfish catch rates return to those bygone standards. From all indications, however, the offshore potential of the northern Gulf remains very good, making the chance of success a worthwhile proposition. And if a billfish doesn't find your lure or ballyhoo, there's always the likelihood of a big dolphin, wahoo or tuna.

Kaiser and Dave Conkle, who fishes aboard his 41-foot boat Miss Babbie, are longtime members of the Pensacola Big Game Fishing Club and friendly competitors when it comes to angling. Both ended the 1996 season on November 1 with 16 billfish apiece for their respective boats, tying for top honors in the club. Kaiser scored two blue marlin, three sailfish and the rest whites, while Conkle tallied 13 whites, two blues and a sail. This wasn't just routine hookups, however. It was offshore angling with a flourish.

Conkle scored three double-headers out of three possible chances, while Kaiser demonstrated his own flair for individual achievement. On October 12, 1996, the weather conditions were perfect, but Kaiser's crew canceled for various reasons. The 66-year-old retired Navy commander decided to go by himself. While trolling his usual Knucklehead and a skirted ballyhoo, two white marlin appeared and ate simultaneously.

"I was running the boat on autopilot and I stuck one rod in the rod holder and that fish stayed on while I tagged and released the other," he recalled. "I went after the second one and got him, too. Both fish cooperated and it was a nice day," he said modestly. In 18 1/2 years, Kaiser has tallied 142 billfish aboard Venture.

Kaiser and Conkle both fish the Nipple area predominantly, but other well-known hotspots like the Elbow, Spur, 100-Fathom Line and DeSoto Canyon have dedicated fans as well. Pensacola is the most convenient port along the Panhandle, to the Nipple less than 30 miles away. Anglers from Panama City, Destin, and Ft. Walton Beach, in addition to the fleet from nearby Orange Beach, Alabama, are all looking for similar conditions when roaming offshore. Many boats from throughout the region, especially during a tournament, will run to the west to fish near the oil and gas rigs off the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. The water (and subsequent rips below the mouth of the Mississippi River) can be red-hot productive also.

Blue water is closest to Pensacola in early May, but depending on the amount of rainfall (and how much fresh water is flowing down the Mississippi) and hurricane activity, it may move considerably as the summer progresses. Many anglers utilize forecasting services such as Roffer's or share dock talk to determine exactly where to start fishing.