Billfish are the ticket at the PCBT
Day one of the 39th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament is on the boards as the 86 teams in the fleet head out to sea for today’s second round of angling. After the first day, Trophy Hunter with Capt. Kenneth Brown is atop the leaderboard with a pair of blue marlin for 500 points. Bill Collecto
Day one of the 39th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament is on the boards as the 86 teams in the fleet head out to sea for today’s second round of angling.
After the first day, Trophy Hunter with Capt. Kenneth Brown is atop the leaderboard with a pair of blue marlin for 500 points.
Bill Collector with Capt. Stephen Draughton sits in second with four sailfish for 400 points.
Three other teams follow with 350 points apiece.
Tuesday’s opener saw all but five teams on the water. The boats that didn’t take their one day off ended up with 39 billfish and 18 gamefish. Of the billfish, nine were blue marlin and 30 were sails. All were released.
Teams are competing for a total purse of just more than $1 million.
As of early this morning, there was no word on how many boats were fishing today.
The PCBT is competing on the heels of the 33rd annual Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies-Only Tournament held over the weekend.
The event raises money for several charities and featured more than 100 teams. Bi-Op-Sea with Capt. Jesse Granitzki took top honors with three billfish, and edged the Tarheel (Capt. John Bayliss), Doghouse (Capt. Britton Shackelford) and Skirt Chaser (Capt. Barry Daniels). The four boats were separated in the standings based on time of catch. All received trophies.
The fleet caught and released 46 billfish that included 23 blue marlin, 17 sails and six white marlin. Also caught were 10 yellowfin, 13 dolphin and 13 wahoo.
Wave Runner with Capt. Brian White took the dolphin division with a 16.2-pounder caught by Alyssa Leary; Pelican with Capt. Arch Bracher had top honors in the tuna division with a 72.1-pounder caught by Summer Bracher; and Freetyme with Capt. Kenneth Freeman won the wahoo division with a 43.5-pounder caught by Robin Leary.
Only two divisions featured cash prizes. Wave Runner won the dolphin jackpot and more than $57,000, while Bi-Op-Sea took home more than $44,000 in the billfish jackpot.
Samanna II with Capt. Huck Harriss and angler Katherine Farless won the Paula Stansky Award for Angling Excellence.
Evie Yannia, fishing on the Carolina Girl with Capt. Jordy Croswait won the Lucy B. Gaddy Junior Angler Scholarship Award.
