KEY WEST -- With the elements against the 2010 Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, the 28th edition of the event, which runs in conjunction with Hemingway Days, did not have the fleet size of past years. However, it was loaded with anglers finishing in the spirit of the legendary writer, in search of the marlin that would take the $25,000 top-prize.

"This is the hardest year I've ever had putting this together," said tournament president Tim Greene, who has been in charge of the event for the past 12 years. "For the past three months we've had to answer questions about the oil. In 12 years we've never had a tropical storm mess with the tournament, this year we had one. It was just one thing after another thing and I'm sure it cut into our entries, but there were still enough people wanting to fish that it was a success."

In the end, a single marlin released in the final hours of the three-day tournament was the lone prize catch of the event and good enough to land the Contingent Sea atop the leaderboard.

"We went from zero to No. 1," said Trase Travers, who reeled in the marlin for the winning Contingent Sea team. "We're the luckiest guys in Key West right now, it's a beautiful thing. We were kicking ourselves yesterday because we did not go out, but we went out this morning with the plan of catching the big fish and getting the top prize and sure enough we did. In the later hours of the day we started to get our doubts. You start to think about it a lot, but we always kept the faith and sure enough it turned out."

With only one marlin caught the Whiskey Tango team, which was tied atop the leaderboard with a released sailfish going into the final day for fishing, were able to add to their point total by landing a 38.3-pound wahoo and a second-place finish. The Dream Catcher's Day 1 sailfish withstood the final two days and earned the team the third-place prize.

"We've never had a year were first, second and third did not have a marlin," said Greene. "To be very honest we were getting to the point where we thought we were going to have a marlin tournament without a marlin showing up, we forgot to put the invitation out there."

For the Travers, the victory is extra sweet because there is a monetary need within his family and the prize will help the cause.

"I heard from my brother that my nephew might need brain surgery," said the winning angler. "So I told my brother I was fishing for him, so it was all really good vibes going in. You always have to expect success and relish in it when it happens and otherwise prepare for it later if it doesn't come."

The team baited the 300 to 400 pound fish west of Key West with less than two hours left before the final lines were in for the tournament. Within 30 minutes Travers had the fish to the boat and once the team notified tournament officials of the release, they also found out they were the only anglers with the 400 points from the prized catch.

"At that point, when no one had caught one for three days, we knew we had a pretty good chance to get the win," said Travers. "We started to celebrate, but the captain was quick to tell us, 'Don't you jinx us.' It all worked out for us in the end."

Despite only one marlin and three total billfish released in the tournament, for Greene and his committee, the fact that there was three days of great fishing made the event a huge success.

"There are two sides of marlin fishing," said Greene. "First is the action of fishing and the other is the camaraderie between the anglers and we had that here this weekend. If we were into fast and furious we wouldn't be marlin fishermen. Somebody described marlin fishing as many hours of boredom and a few moments of exhilaration and a great adrenaline rush. That's what it came down to here once again."

jwcooke@keysnews.com