WHAT WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT THE GULF DIVISION
Shakeups, Massive Tuna Spawning Migrations, and Playoff Implications
One-third of the way through the Gulf Division season, and here’s what we’ve learned.
Division Standings
Third Coast Renegades Angling Club: 6500 points
Mississippi Blues Angling Club: 5500 points
Louisiana Canyons angling Club: 5200 points
West Florida Black Flags Angling Club: 5000 points
Gulf Coast Cowboys Angling Club: 4200 points
Texas Lone Stars Angling Club: 4200 points
Alabama Angling Club: 4000 points
Third Coast Renegades: Consistent and Opportunistic
Second place at the season-opening East Pass Challenge, and first at the Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open, Captain Landon Bell and the Renegades have released three blue marlin and one white marlin so far.
From the looks of it, there were several opportunities for the Renegades to blow this tournament wide open, going 2-for-5 this weekend on blue marlin.
“The first one [blue marlin] came up and we did everything right, it just jumped off,” Captain Landon Bell said. “We had another one come up and wouldn’t eat, another come up that ate and we pulled him off.”
For those keeping track, that meant the Third Coast Renegades started their tournament 0-for-3.
“Then we caught two, then had another one come up at night and wouldn't bite,” Bell said. “At the end of the day we lost another blue, right at the buzzer.”
Make that 2-for-4 on Saturday, the white marlin arrived Championship Sunday morning, and that final missed blue marlin when it was time to make the long run back to the marina, needing to be under the Grand Isle bridge by 6:00PM CT.
Including the white marlin, the squad went 3-for-6 total with billfish. A release percentage of .500 would be a hall of fame batting average in baseball, but in offshore fishing tournaments, missing a single fish could cost a club tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. Fortunately for them, it was even tougher sledding for the rest of the field.
Bluefin Tunas Are Everywhere, And They’re Hungry
This time of year is the height of bluefin tuna spawning season, with the Gulf of Mexico being one of the major sanctuaries for this popularly delicious species of fish. The limit of harvesting bluefin tunas in the Gulf was already satisfied by the end April, meaning the fish would be a non-scoring, non-harvestable bycatch.
Bycatch is always an issue, with competitors always on the lookout for sharks, jacks, barracudas and other fish that strike bait. With the exception of the sharks, the other species can make for a quick fight and reset, whereas the bluefins will put on a fight for hours, as we saw with angler Jaselyn Berthelot of Mississippi Blues Angling Club who ended up fighting a monster bluefin for more than seven and a half hours.
“I would have lost $100 on Sunday betting the fish I fought on Sunday was a blue marlin,” Berthelot said. “As soon as we saw it was another bluefin, I asked to have it cut off.”
Unless you’re able to hand feed one of these fish and watch them take the bait, it’s hard to know what species is on the line. Anecdotally, some angling clubs have fought marlin for hours, suspecting it to be a different point-scoring species like a yellowfin tuna for example.
“We knew it instantly, as soon as we saw the [bluefin] bite,” said Captain Landon Bell of Third Coast Renegades Angling Club. “We hand fed him, right on the back of the boat, and it swallowed a 15lb blackfin.”
For each bluefin that was hooked, there were thousands still being marked on the sonar. Based on the reports, this was one of the largest migrations seen by anglers in one place in quite some time.
“There was a 50-foot long wall, 75-foot tall of straight bluefins,” said Gulf Coast Cowboys Angler and GM Jordon Benefield. “Just a pile of them.”
Benefield and Captain Blake Bridges take turns marking fish on the sonar to make it easier on their eyesight, also allowing someone to always have eyes on the ocean and the depths at the same time.
“We’ll be really glad when they [bluefins] go out of the Gulf so we can start focusing on blue marlin fishing,” Benefield said. “It’s going to make it a lot easier on everybody.”
THE ZANE GREY CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFF PICTURE IS STILL WIDE OPEN
As a reminder, the SFC Champion Angling Club is crowned in October at Zane Grey Championship Playoffs, featuring the top two placing clubs from the Atlantic and Gulf Divisions. 500 points currently separate second and fourth place, so every tournament has major implications.
The leading Third Coast Renegades have a 1000 point margin separating themselves from the second place Mississippi Blues, but one tough outing could flip the entire field on its head.
“Feels really good to be in the lead,” Bell said. “There’s a lot of fishing left, but it feels really good.”
The next Gulf stop is in June at the Gulfport Mississippi Open. Until then, The Atlantic Division will take center stage with the Walker’s Cay Open at the end of May, and Huk Charleson Billfish Cup the very next week.
By the time we get to Gulfport, Texas Lone Stars Angling Club will be back on their own boat Freebird, Louisiana Canyons will have a bow rail on their 92’ Viking Just Lookin’, and maybe a few gyros for the Gulf Coast Cowboys and Mississippi Blues will be back online.
The clock is ticking.