On June 7^th, 2025, the Gulf Coast Fly Fishing Team (“GCFFS”) represented by Todd Dempsey and Jake Koffler fished in the 6^th Annual Tripletail Classic and were named Grand Champions of the tournament finishing with the lowest combined “cup” score to take the overall win.  This catch, photo, tag and release tournament is held yearly at the height of tripletail season and benefits the University of South Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Lab with the research they are conducting on Atlantic Tripletail. There are three categories that anglers are scored on: 1. Largest fish, 2. First Fish, and 3. Most inches. The tournament committee takes the finishing place of each team in each category and adds them together and the lowest scoring teams wins the tournament. The GCFFS team won the tournament with an overall cup score of 4 points finishing in First Place in Largest fish (1 pt), First place in Most inches (1 pt) and second place in First Fish (2 pts).

Anglers from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Texas and beyond made up the 88 anglers that competed on 34 teams. The fishing area runs from Pensacola to Gulfport providing a plethora of opportunities for teams to locate tripletail in different types of environments like tidelines, crab buoys, floating debris, and more.

This years tournament started with a bang with one team, 4 time champions “Zululand”  catching and submitting a tripletail only 2 minutes after the tournament opened at 7a.m.! The GCFFS team submitted their first catch 2 minutes later to claim second place in the “First Fish” category with a submittal at 7:04 a.m.  Another fish caught by the GCFFS team just before 8 a.m. came in at 18 inches and held on to win first place in the “Largest fish” category. Usually much larger tripletail are caught that are in the mid 20 inch range but none were this year. An almost 3 hour gap ensued before the GCFFS team located the next tripletail they landed and tagged. The GCFFS were able to land 7 fish in total for a combined 95 inches to take First place in the most inches category.

A strong west wind made conditions challenging for most of the afternoon however that did not seem to have an effect on the fish or their desire to bite. Multiple teams battled rough conditions and some called it a day early.

A large thank you should be given to the tournament committee, especially Lance Slater and Capt. Sam Glass of Flyway Charters. They worked extremely hard to set up and run this fantastic tournament and served as emcee for the Captains Meeting the night before at Ralph and Kacoo’s located on Mobile Bay on the causeway. After the tournament, the awards ceremony was held at the same place at the Captains Meeting, Ralph and Kacoo’s,  downstairs with live music, a full bar, and exceptional food. Lance and Sam handled all of the duties related to handing out awards, raffle winners, and information related to the tournament. All the fisherman who competed in the tournament were appreciative of their efforts for the weekend and commented on how well run everything was. The GCFFS looks forward to participating in the 7^th Annual Tripletail Classic in 2026.

https://www.orvis.com/casting-for-recovery.html

The Gulf Coast Fly Fishing School had the pleasure of participating in the Casting for Recovery Retreat in Poplarville, MS. On 9/25/2024.  Dr. Thomas Dempsey, founder of the GCFFS, and his student Scott Colew, helped guide the women at the Running Creek Ranch in Poplarville.  The venue was at a beautiful location right outside of town with rolling pastures, accommodations for the women, a wing-shooting area, horseback riding, and of course, a pond to fish in.

After the introductions we were paired up with our fisherwoman and proceeded to the lake.  There were a number of catfish caught and Dr. Dempsey’s partner made the most unusual catch with a large turtle.  After a 3-hour fishing expo, we all adjourned to the main area where we had an unbelievable lunch and a presentation of certificates.  The GCFFS looks forward to participating in these events, helping these ladies enjoy a day on the water and learn to fly fish and perfect their casting.  What a great opportunity to give back to these brave ladies.

The Triple Tail Classic is now in the history books.  This is the 5^th consecutive year that this event has been held as a tag and release challenge for triple tail that benefits the Gulf Coast Research Lab.  This year there were over 38 boats with over 90 anglers that participated.  They came from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia.  The event encompassed an area from Pensacola Bay to Biloxi beginning at 7am on Saturday morning and ending at 4pm.  There were multiple categories for first fish caught, the most fish, the biggest fish, and the overall grand champion based on the lowest number of points.

I am proud to say that the Gulf Coast Fly Fishing team of founder Thomas Dempsey and his son Todd Dempsey tied for first overall for the grand championship which was awarded on a tie-breaker, bumping GCFF into second place.  That being said, the event was considered a huge success.  The Gulf Coast team was tied for first place and actually lost on a small technicality.  But everyone had fun and the Gulf Coast team caught 4 fish out of a total of 36 triple tails that were caught during the tournament.  All the fish were tagged for a research project that the Gulf Coast Research Lab supports as an ongoing project for the health and sustainability for the triple tail species.

“Thanks” should be giving to Noble and Danelle Davidson for their continuing support and production of this tournament.   They work hard every year to make sure the tournament comes off smoothly.  Despite living in Apalachicola, FL, Danelle’s and Noble’s tireless participation ensures that this is one of the best, if not the best, fishing tournaments that I have ever been associated with.  Kudos to both of them.

Saturday evening finished with a band, Moe’s BBQ, the presentation of awards and the congratulations of all the participants and volunteers.  The Gulf Coast Fly Fishing club looks forward to participating next year and we’ll see you on the water!

The 2023 Triple Tail Tournament sponsored by the Eastern Shore Fly Fishing Club has come and gone.  This was the fourth year for the successful tournament that included some 34 boats and 90 anglers.  A total of 13 triple tails were caught and tagged, benefitting the Gulf Coast Research Lab at Grand Bay.

The hot weather did not seem to affect the fishing enthusiasm, but probably had something to do with the lower numbers.

Jeffrey St. John and his father, Sam, were the big winners with the most fish for their third win in four years.  They obviously have a secret formula.

The Gulf Coast Fly Fishing School was lucky enough to tie for first place with the largest triple tail, Jake Koffler was a spotter on Todd Dempsey’s black jack boat and Tom Dempsey was the angler who caught the fish.

All fish were tagged and released to help the research program on triple tails.

After all the festivities of fishing, a night with a nice band and Moe’s BBQ and prizes culminated another successful year.  Danielle Davidson and Noble Davidson are to be doubly congratulated for their hard work for initially establishing this fishing tournament 4 years ago and continuing to follow it with hours of input and work.

Programs like this only enhance our fishery along the Gulf Coast and we are lucky to live where we live.  I failed to mention that this was a “fly fish only – no conventional tackle” for a very unique tournament.  Come see us next year and fish in the Triple Tail Tournament.