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PERDIDO KEY, Florida/Alabama — It’s really more than a toss.  There are those who hurl the mullet and those who flip it.

They fling it and wing it and some even twirl the slippery fish over their heads and throw the thing in a spinning motion.

It is released underhand, overhand and sidearm in high arches and line drives. When the fish lands, it may bounce or flop and stick in the sand. and it may slide and skip across the beach.

Sometimes it bleeds, and more than one thrower might cut his hand. But the injuries are certainly minor.

It was all part of an effort to achieve a record at the 27th annual Interstate Mullet Toss & Gulf Coast’s Greatest Beach Party at Flora-Bama Lounge & Package, where thousands gathered this weekend.

Ben Handley, who won his age bracket last year with a 150-foot throw, threw about 127 feet this year. While some people hold the fish flat in their hands, Handley and his buddy Brad Owen, both of Mobile, said folding a mullet is absolutely necessary.

“Break the back,” Owen said, “because you can throw it farther, like a baseball. You get a better grip.”

Event concludes today; raises money for charity

The event wraps up today at the state-line bar, with gates opening at 9 a.m. and the competition starting at noon.

Cover is $10 for adults 21 and older and $15 for those 16-20. Anyone 15 or younger can enter free, but must be accompanied by an adult. Those who want to toss the mullet must pay $15, with a portion of the proceeds going to local youth charities.

Flora-Bama co-owner Pat McClellan said he expected to raise between $15,000 and $20,000 this year.

The Mullet Toss, and clear skies with an 80 degree temperature may have helped draw the crowd Saturday, but the drinks and live music kept them at the roadhouse.

Though they’ve attended the event for years, Dusty Thronson and Jeremy Little, of Fairhope, threw mullet for the first time.

Thronson threw his fish 129 feet, and Little threw his 125 feet.  But that was secondary.

“Everybody’s having a good time,” Thronson said. “It’s all about the camaraderie.”

The boardwalk to the beach was jammed, as well as the recently renovated balconies under a new roof that was part of the first phase of repairs after Hurricane Ivan nearly leveled the venue in 2004.

By the early afternoon, eastbound traffic on Perdido Beach Boulevard was backed up almost a mile — nearly all the way to the Perdido Pass.

In an area behind the circle from which the contestants threw, Jim Carr of Atlanta stood by and watched with a group of friends.

“I’m getting my nerves up. I might embarrass myself,” he said, before he ultimately decided he had a bad “rotary” cuff.

For Carr, attending the event for the second time, the weekend was as more about the music and atmosphere.  “It seems to be a really fun time down here,” he said. 

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