GULF DIVISION POWER RANKINGS: July 9, 2025

Tournament four out of six in the Gulf division is in the books, and we have some developments to report with the state of the angling clubs and why they fall where they do on this list. The Pensacola Billfish Release Tournament, presented by Legendary Marine is done and dusted, and we learned a lot. Without any further 

1) Third Coast Renegades Angling Club
Week in and week out, they put on incredible performances and have won the last three tournaments. This time, the Renegades had to come back from a 1,000 point deficit (2 blue marlin and 1 white marlin’s worth of points) behind an SFC record breaking performance by angler Gregg Trenor. He released 7 blue marlin, including 5 on Championship Saturday alone. Hats off to the Third Coast Renegades, they have more than earned top honors again. 

2) Gulf Coast Cowboys Angling Club
The Cowboys finished the Pensacola Billfish Release Tournament in third place, but were even on points. The crazy part is, the winning fish was in sight. If the Cowboys were able to raise that blue and double up, they would have jumped from third to first. 

SFC Insider remains a big believer in momentum swings, and this is the second consecutive podium placement for the Cowboys, so their run does not go unnoticed.

3) Texas Lone Stars Angling Club
Controversial take: The Lone Stars are third in this week’s power rankings only because of a championship Saturday fizzle. Captain Spencer Johnson and his crew put on an absolute clinic Friday, releasing 17 of their 19 billfish, including two individual grand slams by anglers Bryan Richter and Raul Perez. It was a legendary performance, but the run just fell short on Sunday. 

4) Mississippi Blues Angling Club
Jaselyn Berthelot now has two epic 7.5+ hour fights with monster fish. The first was a non-scoring blue marlin for her bucket list at the Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open earlier this year, and now a 600+ pound blue marlin. After that first fish, Berthelot, Captain Jimmy “Cricket” Crochet and the rest of the Blues made a good run for themselves on Championship Saturday releasing a blue and a white marlin. Their finish in Pensacola was good enough to jump the Louisiana Canyons to retake second place in the divisional point standings. 

5) Louisiana Canyons Angling Club
And that brings us to why the Canyons are down in fifth place in the power rankings, yet they are still third in the point standings. Only 100 points separate them from the Mississippi Blues for that final Zane Grey Championship Playoff spot. There’s just one problem: 

This isn’t a two-horse race for second. 

The Gulf Coast Cowboys and Texas Lone Stars are both nipping at their heels, 200 points behind the Canyons and 300 points behind the Blues. We’ve got four clubs battling for one playoff spot, unless something catastrophic happens to the Third Coast Renegades. 

6) West Florida Black Flags Angling Club
You can’t help but feel bad for the Black Flags. Mechanical issues sidelined them from Pensacola, and then the team pinch-hitting for them did not return for video verification. If the fill-in team avoided disqualification, the Black Flags would be right in the playoff hunt. 

7) Alabama Angling Club
We may have an announcement coming for this current league-owned and operated club, but the lack of a consistent team representing them keeps this club at the bottom of the list.