What an exciting week it’s been here at Pirates Cove! I looked outside and it looked like the circus was leaving town with so many vendors packing up their trucks by the pavilion. The 30th annual Pirates Cove Billfish Tournament and Alice Kelly Tournament wrapped up yesterday. The finale couldn’t have been more exciting with a photo finish for 1st place. Captain Jimmy Bayne and the Sniper took first place with our very own Capt. Bull Tolsen, of the Sea Toy, just behind him in second. Third place went to the Capt. Kevin Gaylord of the Safari. The marina was filled to the rim with boats from abroad and not to mention our counterparts from OIFC. It was really exciting having so much fishing experience and great stories from all the captains this week. Congratulations to everyone that competed and we look forward to hosting another exciting tournament next year!
Today the Offshore fleet continued to catch big numbers of billfish today accounting for 15 white marlin releases on just four boats!!! There were some Blues spotted several times coming up in spreads but none were hooked. Offshore there is piles of baitfish right now ranging from pinky sized fish to football size bonita. As long as the weather holds and there isn’t any major storms to come through our area, the billfish bite should continue deep into next month. There’s been nothing but grinning faces and, "see you next year" all week from the charters. I mailed 81 citations in today starting from Aug 8th to yesterday. Really impressive work by our captains and anglers. Those that were not Marlin fishing specifically today caught some really niced Dolphin and a 40+ pound Wahoo. We’ve been fortunate enough to have some great photographers fish us over the last week or two. I’m attaching some amazing photos taken by Mike Daniels on the Samanna of two giant Blue Marlin during their fight.
Our inlet guide had a good morning catching a Pam Slam this morning made up of Speckled Trout, Puppy Drum, and Striped Bass. (Pamlico slam to be clear, and the striped bass had to be thrown back.) Our nearshore and Inlet captains book really fast so call us at 1-800-367-4728 or visit us at staging.pcdev.flywheelsites.com to book your trip.
Our tournament shirts and other items our on sale online and running out fast. Get online and order them fast before its too late! Special thanks to all our sponsors, hard working dock crews, and volunteers for all their hard work and dedication this week leading to another great tournament this year! Take care……….
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