What We Learned From The Pensacola Billfish Release Tournament

Four Gulf Division tournaments are in the books. The last three of those have been won by Third Coast Renegades Angling Club. It was a big weekend for the Renegades on multiple fronts at the Pensacola Billfish Open, presented by Legendary Marine. Not only did they take the win offshore, but their ownership group gained another power player: Texas A&M football legend Terrence Murphy. 

Championship Saturday was one for the record books, literally. Renegades angler Gregg Trenor set a new SFC record with seven blue marlin releases in a single tournament. Every single fish was needed to overcome a 1,000 point deficit at the end of day two. 

Texas Lone Stars Angling Club released 17 billfish on Friday in what was one of the most spectacular single-day performances in league history. Two anglers had grand slams (releasing a sailfish, white marlin and blue marlin). For reference, 23 fish total were caught that day. It was a spectacular display for Captain Spencer Johnson and the Lone Stars crew, but unfortunately for them, Captain Landon Bell and the Renegades got hot on Saturday. 

The battle between the Lone Stars and the Renegades was a battle we hope to see over and over again. Contrasting styles of fishing, both lighting up the leaderboard. The Lone Stars fish with primarily artificial bait and dredges, running closer to shore and finding schools of fish to track. The Renegades’ style is similar to the majority of the Gulf division field: heading to the rigs for live bait and then venturing off to find the marlin migrating between the rigs. 

Johnson and the Lone Stars racked up white marlin, sailfish and a few blues to show off how diverse the action can be in the Gulf. The one vulnerability with their lead was the threat of another team converting multiple blue marlin releases, which is exactly what happened on Championship Saturday.

It began early in the morning, with Gregg Trenor releasing their first blue of the day at 6:55AM. The second one came nearly an hour and a half later. A third one was hooked but lost around 9:00AM. The Lone Stars’ lead was nearly erased before the end of breakfast. 

While all the action went the Lone Stars’ way on Saturday, two other clubs were starting to get hot as well. Angler Jaselyn Berthelot of the Mississippi Blues, found both a blue marlin and white marlin to jump the Louisiana Canyons on the leaderboard. 

The Gulf Coast Cowboys, who ended day two in second place, started gaining momentum in the afternoon, with Jordon Benefield and Dino McDowell releasing blue marlin exactly an hour apart from each other. 

The Lone Stars would not go quietly, retaking the lead with a blue marlin of their own at 1:01PM, released by Roberto Velazquez. With the diversity of fish they released, the lead would change hands with each additional blue marlin caught. 

Captain Landon Bell and company got their last blue marlin at 1:35PM, low on fuel and far from home. They had to pack up and start heading back to land if they planned to make it for video review, leading to an opportunity for the competition closer to shore to catch up. The Gulf Coast Cowboys released three of the last four fish, but storms hurt their chances to aggressively pursue the marlin Captain Blake Bridges was marking on the sonar. 

Lightning provided an electric backdrop for Lori McDowell’s white marlin release at 2:01PM. In the final hour before lines out, the passing kept the Cowboys indoors for safety at the most unfortunate time. 

Two Blue Marlin. 

One ate a live bair, and Jordon Benefield got in the chair. That fish would bring the Cowboys even on points with the second place Texas Lone Stars. The second one fishing near its companion? 

That would have been the winning fish, if it came up to eat. 

It didn’t. 

Also closer to shore were the Lone Stars, 350 points away from the Renegades. Another blue would win it. In the closing hours, it was just expected that the action around them would stay hot. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t, and firm handshakes all around at the call for lines out was all they could do, still stoked to take second place after a tumultuous start to the year while their boat was under a refit. 

So what did we learn? Plenty. 

• Third Coast Renegades Angling Club are nearly a lock for making the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs. 
• The squad filling in for West Florida Black Flags did not come back in for video verification, so SFC officials had no choice but to disqualify all of their catches, leaving them in 6th place with zero points, dropping them to sixth in the season standings
• This allowed the Mississippi Blues, with their Saturday run, to finish in fourth place, giving them enough points to retake second in the season standings over the Louisiana Canyons. The margin is only 100 points
• We have a tie for fourth in the season standings between the Gulf Coast Cowboys and the Texas Lone Stars, with both sitting only 300 points behind the Blues in second

That second playoff spot is a four-horse race with two events to go. 

The Billfish Pachanga in Port Aransas, Texas is the Lone Stars’ backyard. Unlike the rest of the Gulf tournaments, there is a 100-mile range to fish, which caters to their style, where there aren’t many (if any) oil rigs in that radius to Port Aransas.

Get your popcorn ready, we’re in for a close finish to the season over Labor Day in Orange Beach.