August 14, 2015; Manteo, North Carolina:
By Capt. Dave Lear
Uno Mas, as it turned out, needed cinco mas. On the last day of the 2015 Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament, Uno Mas, a 68 Bayliss skippered by Capt. Tommy Lynskey, made a late charge at the standings by releasing five white marlin. The team had a triple and double as part of their Friday rally. That was still a few fish shy of the leader Sea I Sea, however. The past PCBT champions are a veteran team that has been fishing the East Coast tournament circuit this season before it heads back to home waters in Costa Rica at the Los Sueños Resort and Marina, one of the PCBT’s Sapphire sponsors.
“We missed a few and caught a few. It’s all good,” Lynskey said after the boat returned to its slip. Uno Mas (one more in Spanish) was fishing around the 960 mark with plenty of company. The boat typically runs two bridge teasers, one short teaser off the outrigger, two dredge teasers and pulls four naked ballyhoo. The soft-spoken captain kept the day’s results in perspective.
“The competition here is tough,” he said. “These are the best crews in the world. After all, it is the Oregon Inlet.” Uno Mas won the top Friday daily with their score.
Hey Chama, a 65 Bayliss run by the builder, Capt. John Bayliss, Sr., won the second-place daily Friday by releasing four billfish. The team released two blue and two white marlin for the day.
Piracy, with Capt. Chris Russell at the helm, also weighed in the largest tuna of the week, a 56.3-pound yellowfin.
A total of 88 billfish were caught and released by the 56-boat fleet on the last day of the event. That tally included 65 white marlin, 12 blues, six sailfish and five spearfish.
The awards ceremony was held later Friday night at the pavilion at the host Pirate’s Cove Marina. Nearly $468,000 in prize money would be distributed to the overall winners in the 32nd annual event.
