SFC INSIDER: Week 2 Media Days Recap

Welcome back to Texas for week two of SFC media days. We have three angling clubs joining us this week:

Louisiana Canyons
New Jersey Sea Birds
Rhode Island Breakers

THURSDAY, MARCH 19th

Jaselyn & Toby Berthelot, along with mates Adrian Valdes and Thadd Champagne came by the studio, and were joined by play-by-play host Robbie Floyd, making his first league appearance of 2026. Toby and Jaselyn spoke to their season preparation now competing for Louisiana Canyons Angling Club. 

Toby has taken the helm for captain duties and their boat Rising Sons was also pulled out of the water for some fiberglass work and full ceramic coating. While Robbie got reacquainted with them, Insider shot his first podcast episodes with Valdes and Champagne, digging into their past before coming together to fish, and where they learned their skills. 

In terms of intelligence, there may not be an angling club with more empirical data than the Canyons, given Thadd Champagne’s 25+ years of experience working on the oil and gas platforms in the Gulf, and also around the globe. His time in the Gulf of Mexico has led to not only some incredible stories, but a ton of knowledge of how these structures play into blue billfish feeding habits and migrations, giving the Canyons a playbook to follow in order to maximize their opportunities at finding plenty of fish. 

Jaselyn spoke about her time in Costa Rica fishing The Pescadora, which we covered in February, calling it “Spring training” for the season opener. The Key West Classic, taking place April 17-19 in the Conch Republic is going to be a sailfish event like it was down in Quepos. 

Sailfish are not the species Berthelot and the Canyons are used to targeting in the Gulf, worth only 75 points in SFC’s scoring system versus blue marlin which score 450 points per release. 

Tomorrow begins another day of interviews and recordings. Check back for more updates from our time with The Flock and Breakers.

FRIDAY, MARCH 20TH

The majority of the core Sea Birds roster came to the studio HQ, with club owner Ethan Rigel, Pacha, their mascot Volpino Italiano (editor's note: sorry Ethan and Pacha for misidentifying you as a Pomeranian) Ken Hager, Dave McKendrick, Capt. Blaine Birch, Jarrett Birch, Stephen Birch and support staff Sarah Evans and Media Officer Thomas Walsh.

Some offseason developments include Blaine and Steve moving in together, with Steve running a 55’ Valhalla outside of the competitive circuit. Blaine and his team have competed in some of the South Florida sailfish series events this SFC off-season under charters, but the experience also means meaningful reps to prepare for the season-opening Key West Classic. Stephen’s experience chartering in Key West last year will prove helpful with their upcoming warm-up tournaments down there, including the Key West Sailfish Tournament and Viking Tournament in the coming weeks.

The Flock are headed to Las Vegas for the weekend straight from the studio, so we will be keeping track of their winnings from the roulette tables Saturday night while watching Parker Retzlaff race the no. 99 South Carolina Outcast car at Darlington.

Meeting the Rhode Island Breakers for the first time

The Breakers rolled in DEEP. With nearly their entire roster in attendance, we met several new faces that were not in attendance for the initial announcement of the club during September 2025’s Newport International Boat Show in Rhode Island. Some of the newcomers being Captain John Bowen, along with the crew from Seaward Automation. 

The team at Seaward have something cooking with this squad. Their new Command software is all over Breakers AC owner Paul Squarcia’s boat, El Bendido, a sleek and newly-refit 66’ Blackwell and my goodness does it provide some incredible data that will benefit our Atlantic Division broadcasts. From our studio, we will be able to see all the telemetry that Capt. John is viewing through the helm screens. 

When it comes to season outlook, optimism is the same theme shared by everyone, but this group appears more excited to be a part of the action as a first-year squad.

It was a quick couple of days here at the studio HQ! For more on the upcoming system, check back here and on @SFCInsider on instagram for developments. A small contingent will be traveling back to meet the new South Florida Sails, led by Ben Simmons and Brad Adam.