The Mullet's in the Air: A Boater's Guide to the Flora-Bama Interstate Mullet Toss
If you haven't pointed your bow toward Perdido Key yet this week, it's time to fire up the chartplotter. The 41st Annual Interstate Mullet Toss and Gulf Coast's Greatest Beach Party kicks off tomorrow, April 24 through 26, 2026, on the beach behind the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge & Oyster Bar, that glorious, ramshackle temple to coastal misbehavior straddling the Alabama–Florida line. For our Docklines readers, the geography couldn't be more convenient: the Flora-Bama sits right on the Gulf, a short run from Perdido Pass, and for boaters willing to drop a hook offshore and tender in, you'll sidestep one of the ugliest parking headaches on the Gulf Coast while securing a front-row seat to fish flying through the April sky.
The tradition traces back to 1985, when Flora-Bama co-owner Pat McClellan and his buddy Jimmy Louis cooked up a reason to lure the regional faithful to the beach for a weekend. The event's folklore took off after former Alabama and Oakland Raiders quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler reportedly launched a mullet across the state line, and the rest is Lower Alabama legend. Forty-one years later, what began as a back-porch idea now draws tens of thousands of spectators from across the country and overseas, with hotel and slip reservations booked months (and sometimes years) in advance. The current record to beat is a monstrous 189 feet, 8 inches set by Josh Serotum in 2004 — a mark that has survived javelin Olympians, high school quarterbacks, and every oyster-fueled ringer Pascagoula can produce.
Here's how it works for the uninitiated: grab a registration form at the Toss Ring on the beach, pay the $20 entry fee (which includes your commemorative t-shirt and, importantly, sends every dollar to local youth charities battling drug and alcohol addiction on both sides of the state line), pick out a dead grey mullet from the community bucket, and step into a 10-foot circle. Your job is to chuck that fish down a 200-foot lane, across the Florida-Alabama border, and back onto Alabama sand. Step out of the ring, throw out of bounds, or fail to follow through, and you're disqualified. Categories are split by age and gender, so grandkids and grandparents compete on equal footing. Winners get trophies, dinner, and bragging rights until next April. Oh, and the mullets? Once they've flown, they're donated to Alligator Alley in Summerdale, where the gators treat them like a catered lunch.
Technique separates the tourists from the contenders. John Barbato of Pascagoula — arguably the event's most decorated champion with more than 20 overall titles — shared his playbook with the Mullet Wrapper. His top rule is to never throw a line drive; a rainbow arc lets the mullet roll an extra ten feet after it lands. He folds the fish in half before launch, picks a medium-sized specimen over a bigger one, and always grabs a frozen mullet over a thawed one because it flies like a baseball. Throw early in the day before the afternoon sea breeze builds into a headwind, and — his words — don't step out of the line to hit the facilities, because you'll lose your spot. Local lore adds a couple of useful tricks: dust your throwing hand with cornmeal for grip, and consider an underhanded release by the tail for control. Whatever you do, hold tight; slimy fish tend to sail backward when you try to throw them like a fastball.
For boaters, a little pre-departure planning pays off big. Parking at the Flora-Bama during Toss weekend is famously limited, and they're emphatic that vehicles left overnight get towed, so arriving by water is genuinely the smart play when conditions cooperate. Anchor off the beach in settled weather and dinghy in, or run into Perdido Pass and grab a slip at one of the Orange Beach marinas, then call a rideshare for the short hop over. Pack cash for the daily cover ($10 for 21-and-up, $15 for ages 16–20, and free for 15-and-under until 6 p.m., when it shifts to 21-and-up only), leave your coolers and outside drinks on the boat (they're prohibited on Flora-Bama property), and wear shoes you don't mind getting fish-slimed. Tossing runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day with winners crowned at 4:30, but the live music, bushwackers, and general beach-party mayhem roll well into the night. Whether you're heaving a Mugil cephalus for glory or just dropping the hook to take it all in from the cockpit, the Mullet Toss remains the most delightfully ridiculous way to open boating season on the Gulf Coast. See you on the line.
