DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — Before the first line hits the water at the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, there’s one competition where honesty is a handicap: the tournament’s traditional Liar’s Contest.
The Thursday-night storytelling contest opened rodeo weekend on Dauphin Island, with contestants spinning tall tales of monster catches and improbable escapes for a live audience.
A Fiberglass Spine and a Fish Story
This year’s winner was Frank Dickey of Chatom, whose winning tale had it all. Dickey told the crowd he ruptured every disc in his back trying to reel in a fish at the previous year’s Rodeo — so badly that doctors replaced his spine with fiberglass, putting him back in action just in time for this year’s tournament.
Dickey kept the performance going through his post-win interview, introducing the woman beside him as his wife — then admitting afterward that she wasn’t really his wife at all. The commitment to the bit is precisely why he took home the title.
The Liar’s Contest has long served as the playful prelude to the Rodeo itself, which opens the next morning with its signature cannon blast on the island’s east end and bills itself as the world’s largest fishing tournament.