By Capt. Dave Lear June 6, 2012, Biloxi, Mississippi: The 15th edition of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic is about to get underway with expectations of some really big fish coming to the scales later this week. Based at the Isle Casino Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi, this year’s big-game contest will showcase the top [...]
The City of Ocean Springs will once again be our host for this year's version of the sponsor party and pub crawl. On June 7th, 2012 the downtown area of Ocean Springs, Mississippi becomes "Sponsor Village" as we provide an evening of southern hospitality for our loyal sponsors. Several downtown establishments have joined the growing [...]
We welcome another new sponsor to the MGCBC in 2012 and they are making a splash with an exciting offer! Seakeeper is the world leader in active gyro stabilizer technology for the leisure yacht and commercial marine industry. For this year's event they are happy to pay the opening entry fee/fuel/dockage (up to $7500) for [...]
June 12, 2011, Biloxi, Mississippi By Capt. Dave Lear Sportfishing is back to normal along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. After a long rebuilding process triggered by Hurricane Katrina, followed by last year’s cancellation due to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the contestants are back and the fish are indeed biting. A field of [...]
June 12, 2011, Biloxi, Mississippi By Capt. Dave Lear It’s a good thing tournament officials at the Classic use erasable markers when writing down the names of the anglers and weights of their fish. That’s because the lead changed constantly throughout Saturday evening as scores of eligible fish came to the scales. By [...]
Less than 10 minutes remain for the hundreds of anglers fishing the 2011 Classic to hook the big monster blue. Lines must officially be out of the water by 6 p.m. Tournament Control has received word that two boats are running back in with qualifying blues aboard. Mary P, a beautiful Trinity yacht-fish, is also [...]
With just two hours left to fish in the 15th annual Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, tournament control radio has been mostly silent. Rocky Jones, fishing aboard Reel Addiction, padded his release points by scoring another blue marlin. That gives him a total of three blues and one white. Tico Time remains the only known [...]
After the hectic pace of yesterday, Saturday morning is proving to be fairly quiet among the fleet of 60 boats fishing the Classic. Many are beyond normal radio range, however, so the reports coming in to tournament control are limited. So far this morning Top Gun and Freedom have reported successful billfish releases. Tico [...]
The Gulf of Mexico is alive with life, says Capt. Rene Bonneval, skipper of C-Ya, a custom sportfisher currently holding third place in the Classic. C-Ya weighed in a 536-pound blue last night just before the scales closed. "It's ideal conditions out there," Bonneval said. "There is a ton of bait in the Green Canyon. [...]
June 11, 2011, Biloxi, Mississippi By Capt. Dave Lear Sports enthusiasts say records are meant to be broken. If that’s the case, sportfishing history was made yesterday as four blue marlin were brought to the scales at the Point Cadet Marina during the first day of the 15th annual Mississippi Gulf Coast [...]