Dozens Gather at Candlelight Vigil for Two Missing South Alabama Fishermen

MOBILE, Ala. — Dozens of family members and friends came together Tuesday night to honor two fishermen who vanished on the water a week earlier, holding a candlelight vigil at the very spot where the men began their final trip. The gathering blended grief, faith and an unbroken promise from a family that says it will not leave South Alabama until the men are found.

The family chose C&S Tackle Shop as the setting for the vigil — the spot where Floyd “Genie Boy” Nelson and David Stegman launched before they went missing. The choice carried deep meaning for those who knew the two men, whose fishing outings began at the tackle shop that serves as a hub for the local angling community. For a week, the shop had stood as the last place the men were seen alive.

The boat the two men were aboard was recovered shortly after their disappearance, but neither Nelson nor Stegman had been found. The recovery of the vessel only deepened the anguish for relatives, who have spent the days since waiting for word that searchers were closing in on the men themselves.

Search Called Off, Family Stays On

Relatives said they decided to hold the vigil after the U.S. Coast Guard called off its official search. Attendees lit candles, shared memories of the two men, and prayed for their recovery, turning the small tackle shop property into a scene of quiet reflection under the night sky.

The Coast Guard’s decision to suspend a search is governed by strict protocols that weigh survival factors against the passage of time, water conditions and the area already covered. For families, however, the suspension rarely feels like an ending, and Nelson’s relatives made clear at the vigil that their own efforts would not stop when the official one did.

Nelson’s son-in-law, Stephen Haywood, said he and his wife — Nelson’s daughter — drove down from Virginia as soon as they heard the news and planned to remain in the area indefinitely.

“We will stay in the area until the bodies are recovered,” Haywood said. “We need the degree of closure. There are all kinds of varying estimates about when they may be recovered. We know that everybody is still in the process of searching for the bodies.”

Haywood’s words captured the peculiar limbo in which the families find themselves. With the boat recovered but the men still missing, there is no rescue to hope for and no funeral to plan — only the waiting, and the water.

Volunteers and fellow fishermen have continued their own searches in the days since the Coast Guard stood down, a common practice in Gulf Coast fishing communities where the bonds between anglers run deep. Local fishermen know the waterways, the tides and the hidden hazards of the region’s bays, rivers and sounds in a way few others do, and many consider it a duty to keep looking when one of their own is lost.

The search that preceded the vigil drew on the resources of the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency responsible for maritime search and rescue across the Gulf of Mexico and the region’s inland waterways. Coast Guard crews typically combine surface vessels, aircraft and small-boat teams in such operations, working from the last known position of a missing vessel and modeling drift patterns based on wind and current. When the agency suspends a case, it formally notifies the family, but local law enforcement agencies and volunteers are free to continue their own efforts.

That is what appears to be happening here. Relatives and community members have kept up the search in the week since the official effort ended, and Haywood’s comments at the vigil indicated that the family believes progress is still being made, even if timelines for a recovery remain uncertain.

The vigil also served a practical purpose for the families: keeping the case in the public eye. In missing-person cases on the water, tips from boaters, fishermen and shoreline residents — sightings, debris, anything out of the ordinary — can make the difference in locating the missing. A community that knows to keep watch becomes a network of extra eyes along the banks, bridges and boat ramps of the region.

A Community Rallies Around Two Families

Tackle shops like C&S occupy a special place in Gulf Coast communities. More than retail outlets, they function as gathering spots where fishing reports, weather warnings and news of the day circulate freely, and where the loss of a fisherman is felt personally by everyone who walks through the door. Hosting the vigil at the launch point was, for the family, a way of grounding the memorial in the place that meant the most to the two men.

Nelson and Stegman set out on their trip as many anglers across the region do — with a boat, a plan and years of experience on the water. What went wrong in the days that followed remains the subject of the searchers’ and families’ questions. Recovered vessels are often examined for clues about what happened, but authorities have not announced findings, and the families said they are focused less on answers than on bringing the men home.

At the vigil, candlelight flickered over faces that included children, siblings, lifelong friends and fellow fishermen. Speakers remembered Nelson — known to nearly everyone as “Genie Boy” — and Stegman as men of the water, the kind who were happiest with a line in the river and a friend at their side. Prayers were offered for the families, for the searchers still at work, and for the recovery the relatives say they will wait as long as it takes to see.

Haywood said the varying estimates about when the men might be recovered have been hard to bear, but that the family draws strength from the knowledge that the search has not truly ended — that everybody, as he put it, is still in the process of searching for the bodies.

Waiting for Closure

For families of the missing, the word “closure” carries weight that outsiders can underestimate. Funeral traditions, memorials and graveside goodbyes all depend on a recovery, and until then, grief has no fixed address. Haywood’s vow to stay in the area until the bodies are recovered reflects a commitment shared by many relatives on the scene, who have upended jobs, school schedules and daily life to remain close to the search.

The drive from Virginia — hundreds of miles across multiple states — underscored how far the ripples of a single vanished boat can reach. Friends of the family in both states have followed the case closely, and the vigil drew attendees with ties to the men stretching across state lines.

Residents of the Gulf Coast know the dangers of the region’s waters as well as anyone. Sudden weather changes, strong currents, submerged obstacles and the sheer size of the region’s river systems and bays make even routine trips hazardous at times, and each season brings stories of anglers who fail to return. Those stories end differently for every family. Some bring rescues; some bring recoveries; some, like this one for now, bring only a search that will not stop.

For now, the vigil’s candles have been extinguished, but the family’s presence in the area remains a visible sign of their resolve. They came hundreds of miles from Virginia, and they say they will not go home until Floyd Nelson and David Stegman are found.

Word of the vigil spread quickly through the local fishing community in the days before it was held, with friends of the family encouraging anglers and residents to attend and show support. Dozens answered the call, filling the space around the tackle shop with candles and quiet conversation as night fell.

Search operations on the region’s waterways typically involve coordination among multiple agencies, and even after the Coast Guard suspends its role, sheriff’s offices and local rescue squads may continue assisting when circumstances allow. The family’s statement that everybody is still in the process of searching suggested that such cooperation remains underway, a source of comfort to relatives enduring an agonizing wait.

Friends of Nelson and Stegman describe a bond between the two men built over years of trips on the water, the kind of friendship common among anglers who plan their weeks around launches, tides and weather windows. That shared passion is part of what makes the loss cut so deeply in a community where so many have made the same kind of trip the men set out on — and where everyone understands that it could have been any of them.

The family has thanked the community for its support during the week of waiting, and for the messages, meals and prayers offered from across the region and beyond. For now, their focus remains fixed on the water, on the search, and on the promise made at the tackle shop where the two men began their final trip.