Tropical Storm Debby is gone but certainly not forgotten. Inclement weather the last couple weeks limited the amount of fishing the local boats could do. So as the 41st annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament gets underway, the 84 teams entered will be playing a guessing game as to where the bait and fish might be. The stakes? More than $1.2 million in cash prizes.
Granted, 155 boats did fish in the Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish Tournament on Sunday, but one day of fishing is not conclusive. The PCBT boats are among the best on the East Coast, however, with hundreds of collective years of experience among them. It won’t take long to dial it in, but what will they find when they do? If the pattern stays true, it’ll likely be a lot of sailfish with smaller blues mixed in. White marlin, the typical quarry offshore this time of year, have been scarce the past couple of seasons.
“We fished the Alice Kelly yesterday but it was slow for us and we went all over,” says Jarrett Birch, the mate on Hog Wild. “We did see a few birds but no weed lines. That storm kept a lot of people at the dock recently.”
Nick Gowitzka, the mate on Waste Knot, another Pirate’s Cove charter boat, is a veteran of the PCBT.
“We’ve had some good years and bad years fishing this tournament,” he said while rigging baits Monday afternoon. “It’s been transitioning from a white marlin tournament to sailfish one. There’s more blue marlin around, too, so that’s a good thing. I don’t know why that’s happening. It may be a cycle. Typically when we have a cold water spring like we did this year, there are more whites around. But they aren’t here, at least yet. With all the sailfish, those Florida boys have an advantage. So our plan is to go win this thing by catching a big blue.”
Under the scoring format, blues must be 400 pounds or 110 inches long (lower jaw to fork length) in order to be weighed. Blues weighing between 400 and 699.9 pounds count as one point per pound. Those topping 700 pounds earn two points per pound. Released billfish (blues, whites, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish) count for 100 points each. Blue marlin verified by photo or video before release earn 250 points. So teams must carefully consider their options before boating a sizable blue.
Dolphin, wahoo and tuna (yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin and blackfin) are scored one point per pound.
According to Hilton’s Real-Time Navigator forecasting service, winds are expected to be around 11 knots from the north/northeast on Tuesday. The chlorophyll or water color east of the Oregon Inlet is green to blended. The moon is in a waxing phase, so currents won’t be especially strong. Does that data provide any definitive answers? Not really. Until the boats get out there and assess the actual conditions, it’s going to continue to be a guessing game.
