Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open Preview & Power Rankings

Back to the bayou for the first time in 15 months, SFC’s Gulf Division is heading back home. Only one angling club claims Louisiana as home, The Louisiana Canyons, but I say home because this venue: Hurricane Hole Marina & Resort in Grand Isle is where the first ever SFC tournament was held back in 2022. 

Before angling clubs, before the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs, before the Citizen Trophies, or The Catch. It all started here at Hurricane Hole. A little splash of color on this little barrier island on the Gulf Coast, Grand Isle plays a major role in multiple tournaments over the Gulf season. It’s one of the closest IGFA-rated scales in the western Gulf, so this is where Jaselyn Berthelot weighed her fish for the 2025 Blue Marlin World Cup. Due south of Grand Isle is one of the most fruitful sections of the Gulf for chasing blue marlin: Green Canyon. The namesake Louisiana Canyon, that’s the area you will find most of the boats hopping from oil rig to oil rig.

Several boats used Hurricane Hole as a stopover on their journey southwest to Port Aransas for the Texas Billfish Open, the last spot on the Gulf schedule prior to the Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open. The Gulf Coast Cowboys stopped over for provisions and fuel (and a freezer full of venison burritos). The Louisiana Canyons kept their boat there for nearly a month’s time, including a CCA event. It was the weekend prior to the Texas Billfish Open when their boat experienced a mechanical problem that they have yet to fully remedy. Limping the boat to Orange Beach, Alabama means the Canyons will be on a different boat for the second consecutive tournament. 

That marks the second-straight Hurricane Hole tournament where we needed a substitute boat for an angling club. It was here in 2025 where the Texas Lone Stars had to withdraw from the competition after one day of fishing with mechanical issues on a friend’s boat they used. It was a slow start for the Lone Stars in the debut season of professional angling clubs, experiencing mechanical failures in the first two tournaments of the Gulf Season. However, Capt. Spencer Johnson and the Lone Stars overcame the early struggles to eventually finish second in the division, advancing to the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs in Cabo, and winning the league championship. 

All of that backstory plays a factor in my power rankings heading into this weekend. Take a look:

Gulf Coast Cowboys

I have the Cowboys on top because they have put in the most impressive blue marlin performance of the season. It was back in Gulfport Mississippi where they raised six blue marlin to win, and then raised another three blues in half the time of fishing than the rest of the field in Bay Point due to a bent prop leaving the marina for the start.

This is the first tournament since Bay Point on our calendar where the boats that practice the live bait style of fishing are at an advantage. Nobody has done it better than them so far in 2026. If they get the first blue on the board, watch for them to bat around the angler rotation (Brian Kelley, Jordon Benefield, Dino McDowell and Lori McDowell) all weekend long.

Mississippi Blues

Who else has been incredibly proficient at live baiting? Mississippi Blues. Their crew reminds me a lot of last year’s Third Coast Renegades roster that won the Gulf Division. In case you forgot, this crew represented the Third Coast Renegades in one tournament last season, a win in Gulfport, Mississippi. Captain Adam McGugin, mates John Crockard and Garrett Schluter, along with boat owner/angler Adam Davidson. They’re a well-oiled machine that have shown the ability to target and raise blue after blue to keep pace with the Gulf Coast Cowboys.

Texas Lone Stars

While the top two clubs on my list are the best at live baiting for blue marlin, the Lone Stars are the masters at dead bait trolling. It’s a style that you’re seeing the Texas boats bring to the northern Gulf tournaments and have done well. The only counter to the numbers put up by boats fishing this style is the SFC point structure, which heavily rewards blue marlin. A 200-point grand slam bonus helps reward boats that do find the three prized Gulf billfish species, but even that multiplier is not enough to counter clubs that can chain together blue marlin releases. 

The Texas Lone Stars are coming off a hot showing at home where they ran up the score. It was their second-best performance in an SFC regular season tournament. They raised 17 fish in the win, including three blue marlin released by Port Aransas hometown hero Bryan Richter. To get the win here in Louisiana, they will need to do something similar to what they did in Port A: find a couple blue marlin early, hit a grand slam, and then consistently raise sailfish to add points while hunting for blues.

If the tournament is close as the clock winds down to 6:00 PM CT (the time boats need to be back in the channel) on Sunday, the Lone Stars will have the chance at a walk-off win due to the fact that they fish closer to shore than the rest of the field, which will allow them to fish earlier and later than the rest of the fleet. 

By the way, Captain Spencer Johnson has been out fishing since leaving Texas a few days ago, mapping out where his squad will make their moves this weekend.

Third Coast Renegades

It would be an insult to call the Renegades the “other dead bait” team. They’ve had the upper hand over the Lone Stars all season, up until that last stop in Port Aransas. They’ve been successful in every discipline of fishing required so far this season: Winning a sailfish tournament in Key West by flying kites, fishing a northern Gulf tournament and winning at Bay Point, placing in the 90+ boat field as well. They also finished third in Port A. 

The Renegades have only finished in two places all season, either winning or placing third. In order to make it to Cabo, the Renegades don’t need to go for broke, they just need to put up numbers and place on the upper half of the leaderboard. Their ability to clinch in Orange Beach at the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club Labor Day Invitational is still high should they finish fourth place or better here in Grand Isle. 

Louisiana Canyons

The hometown club would be higher if their boat was in working form. Rising Sons is on the shelf in Orange Beach, so the Canyons welcome us to Hurricane Hole with a boat that as of publish, is still not confirmed. After speaking with Captain Toby Berthelot, he should be confirming the boat soon. His first call was to family, where relatives run a boat called “Houdini” but unfortunately, they could not pull a rabbit out of their hat and alter their fishing schedule. A conflict keeping them from competing in Hurricane Hole this weekend.

Hurricane Hole is where Jaselyn Berthelot won their first SFC tournament years ago, and is truly a second home for them outside of Baton Rouge. A rally from the Canyons to win, paired with some misfortunes from the midfield in the standings could give the Canyons a puncher’s chance at qualifying for the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs. 

What better place to start that comeback story than in your home state?

West Florida Black Flags

The West Florida Black Flags had a stellar performance in Port Aransas last time we saw them. While they are a northern Gulf based squad, the difference in style played to their advantage. A new boat and roster of anglers, including Donnie McMahon, has helped the Black Flags capitalize on more opportunities, along with the addition of mate Alex Diaz on sonar and sharing the helm with Captain Danny Watts. 

What I’m interested in seeing this weekend is whether momentum follows the squad north to Hurricane Hole, (the Black Flags finished third in the Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open by the way) or will the switch back to live bait fishing create a wider gap that the Black Flags, who have historically caught more white marlin and sailfish this season, can chase. 

The Black Flags found two blue marlin in Texas, can they find more in Hurricane Hole? They currently sit in fifth in the divisional standings, having the tiebreaker advantage over the Louisiana Canyons. Similar to the hometown team, raising the black flag over Hurricane Hole would make the playoff picture look more like a Jackson Pollock painting or perhaps Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” would be more appropriate. 

We’re taking our time down to Grand Isle after we touch down in New Orleans. Stay tuned for some behind the scenes fun from our time with Visit Jefferson Parish.