SFC INSIDER: How The Gulf Division Leaders Advance to ZGCP
The top two angling clubs in the Gulf standings have the clearest paths, so this explainer focuses on them, leaving some breathing room to cover the rest of the field tomorrow.
It was said at the beginning of the SFC season, and this statement continues to ring true all the way into the final divisional stop in Orange Beach: The Gulf is a grind.
The styles of fishing vary from the Atlantic, but so do the ruleset for the tournaments. The latter half of the Atlantic Division’s schedule is similar, with angling clubs overnighting between OBBC, Huk Big Fish Classic and now the MidAtlantic beginning next week. In the Gulf, that’s every single competition, both sanctioned and non-SFC sanctioned to fill out their summer calendars.
For five of the six stops, there are no range limitations, so the boats venture hundreds of miles away, mostly hopping from oil rig to oil rig in search of the blue marlin. Given the efforts needed to track, target and hook them, the ends justify the means in targeting blue marlin. SFC’s point structure makes releasing blue marlin the biggest prize, where a couple of fish can turn the tide in an angling club’s fortune.
On the other hand, struggling to raise blue marlin and hooking them can lead to some long weekends on the water. With the season finale taking place in Alabama, it feels more appropriate than ever to compare competitive blue marlin fishing in the Gulf to Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby character in the movie Talladega Nights:
“If ya ‘aint first, you’re last.”
For the first half of the Gulf season, that’s exactly how the tournament leaderboards looked. Granted, the tournament calendar started earlier than desired, towards the tail end of bluefin tuna spawning season in the Gulf; a period of the year known to be slow for blue marlin activity.
The division season-opening East Pass Challenge in Fort Walton Beach had two clubs releasing fish. The Mississippi Blues victorious, followed by Third Coast Renegades Angling Club with a late release on Championship Saturday. The remainder of the field left empty handed, trying for seventh place points due to not registering a release.
A similar story came where the Bayou meets the saltwater in Grand Isle. Three clubs placed in the Hurricane Hole Louisiana Open, with Third Coast Renegades taking their first of three tournament wins. Louisiana Canyons and West Florida Black Flags rounding out the three to score releases. The other half of the field all received seventh place points for not securing a release.
Two clubs have the inside track to the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs, but got to this point in very different ways. Here’s how the State of Texas ended up topping the Gulf Division Leaderboard, and can stay on top with one round left to go.
Third Coast Renegades Angling Club: CLINCHED
That’s correct, The Third Coast Renegades could take Labor Day off and still advance to the Zane Grey Championship Playoffs as the top seed from the Gulf Division. Their lowest finish this season has been third place, which came at The Billfish Pachanga in Port Aransas, Texas, but that tournament did not feature the main squad of Captain Landon Bell, Angler Gregg Trenor and mates Zack Redman and Connor McLeod. When that core nucleus is together, they have not finished any lower than second place this season.
We will see them in Cabo San Lucas in October, likely on one of their co-owner’s boats which is based down that way.
Texas Lone Stars Angling Club: MOST LIKELY TO ADVANCE
What makes Captain Spencer Johnson and the Lone Stars most likely to advance other than being second in the point standings? They have the most paths to securing that final playoff berth.
LONE STARS ADVANCE TO THE ZANE GREY CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS BY:
- Winning the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club (MBGFC) Labor Day Invitational
- Placing second in the MBGFC Labor Day Invitational should the Renegades or Cowboys win
- Placing third in the MBGFC Labor Day Invitational should the Renegades with Canyons placing second, with help from a tiebreaker scenario
- Placing fourth in the MBGFC Labor Day Invitational, ahead of the Canyons should the Renegades win
- Placing fifth in the MBGFC Labor Day Invitational with a Renegades win, Gulf Coast Cowboys finishing second, Mississippi Blues or West Florida Black Flags third and Canyons fourth with the help of a tiebreaker scenario
Got that? Yeah. Super simple. The tie breakers are a toss up. As of right now, the only tie breaker that will help them in ties with Louisiana Canyons is Rule 7, section e, aritcle ii:
“Tiebreaker 2: Most blue marlin caught in the SFC Regular Season.” In that case, the Lone Stars are up currently with three blue marlin released to the Canyons’ two.
If the blue marlin total is equal, article iii in the tiebreaker rules goes down to white marlin released. Lone Stars have caught more white marlin than anyone in the Gulf by a mile.
The second half of the Lone Stars’ season, once reunited with their boat after a shortened refit to make the SFC calendar, has been one for the record books. Gulf division records for billfish releases and also league records for individual grand slams (2) in a single tournament were set in the Pensacola Billfish Release Tournament. Only the Third Coast Renegades have been able to consistently stay ahead of the Lone Stars in the second half of the season.
And bad news for the rest of the field, a mechanical problem the Lone Stars ran into at the Billfish Pachanga has already been fixed. The crew ran into a log or a tree floating in the Gulf as a result of the catastrophic flooding that hit Central Central Texas in the weeks prior. A bent prop was the extent of the damage, with a replacement prop fitted a week later. Johnson and the Lone Stars finished second in their home tournament operating on just one engine after striking the log.
For the rest of the Gulf scenarios, check back tomorrow and clear some time on your work calendars. There’s a lot of scenarios to sort through.