The clocks are moving ahead, water temperatures are rising and this year’s fishing season will soon be in full swing. The 2024 slate of events—the Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish and the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournaments—are set for August 10-16, with a few changes on tap for participants. Some involve entry fees and payouts, […]
Sweet Victory
In an exciting last-day finish, Sweet Spot, a 62 Spencer Yacht, earned top boat honors in the 40th Annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament after releasing a blue marlin to boost its points tally. Capt. Chris Kubik and his team won first place boat, second place in the Omni Blue Marlin category for releases, top boat […]
Score Blue
In what has shaped up to be a predominately sailfish tournament this week, blue marlin made the difference in the 40th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament. White marlin are typically the most common catch this time of year, but a steady diet of Atlantic sailfish kept the leaderboard flipping faster than pancakes on a Waffle […]
Hump Day
In most normal work weeks Wednesday is considered “Hump Day” or over the halfway point to the anticipated weekend. But Tournament Week at the Pirate’s Cove Marina isn’t exactly normal and since the bulk of the fleet stayed ashore on Tuesday, Thursday is this year’s new hump threshold. It didn’t disappoint, as it’s now shaping […]
Summer Sails Event
The sailfish are flying off the shelves faster than composition books and pencils on a back-to-school checklist. August is typically called the dog days of summer due to the oppressive heat, but if this pace keeps up, the teams fishing the 40th annual PCBT might rename it the Summer Sails Event. A total of 207 […]
A Different Look
It’s been a day of bait rigging, boat maintenance and libations around the Pirate’s Cove Marina. With strong seas offshore, 86 boats chose to take a mandatory Lay Day on Tuesday. That means the bulk of the fleet (all but two) will be going hard the next three days. There is a new wrinkle to […]
Hot Wheels
Blue and white marlin, along with sailfish, are classified as pelagic species because they spend the majority of their time in open ocean waters near the surface. They also have powerful tails and fins, so they don’t hang around in any one location for very long. Which leads to the dilemma for the teams competing […]
Ringer
Country girls don’t need no Omni sonar. With less than a minute to go in the last hour of the last day, Capt. Charles Foreman relied on his vast local knowledge as a charter skipper to put his team on the winning fish. A sailfish vaulted Country Girl to the top of the leaderboard to […]
Late Charge
With the clock winding down on the last day of the 39th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament, Country Girl made it count with a minute to spare. The final fish put the 57 Buddy Cannady over the top for the win. “We had a triple blue marlin up first thing this morning but only one […]
Subtle Shift?
Odds are really good the music playing aboard a certain sportfisher on Friday will be the melodic crooning of Willie Nelson. And the tune on the loop is guaranteed to be Blue Skies. That’s because Blue Sky, a 60 Spencer from Georgetown, South Carolina, scored three white marlin and one blue to take the overall […]