The Florida Panhandle Billfish Series is about to kick off its third season this summer. The popular series was developed to highlight the big-game fishing opportunities off Florida’s Emerald Coast. The competition includes three prestigious tournaments starting with the 55th Annual Pensacola International Billfish Tournament on June 10-14. The 24th Annual Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic follows on June 17-21 and the series wraps up with the 4th Annual Bay Point Billfish Open June 24-28, 2026.
The Florida Panhandle Billfish Series is free to enter and prizes consist of a perpetual custom trophy recognizing the top team and a sizable cash award. The Presenting Sponsor for the 2026 season is A-Game Hydration Beverages. Jim Painter, owner of Fleur de Lis, a Series competitor, is the president for the hydration beverage line.
The 2024 and 2025 FPBS champions and sponsor, All-In/Southern Charm, will be vying for a three-peat for the 2026 season, only competing as Boujee Marlin this time around. The Florida Panhandle Billfish Series adopts the rules format from the individual tournaments. Series points are accrued based on finishes in each of the three contests.
“With the heightened interest in the Pensacola International due to its historic anniversary, the series promises to be competitive right out of the gate,” says Series Executive Director Bert Merritt.
Last year the FPBS helped sponsor marlin pop-up archival satellite tags (PAT) in the Gulf as part of the International Game Fish Association’s Great Marlin Race. The race, supported by grants from Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, is an on-going conservation study to learn more about marlin movement. Three whites were tagged as part of that effort. The tags pop to the surface after 180 days and relay data to an orbiting satellite and the findings are shared throughout the billfish scientific community. Three teams sponsored the 2025 Gulf edition: It Just Takes Time, Never Settle and Rising Sons.
It Just Takes Time’s white traveled an estimated 1,653 nautical miles in straight line distances. Rising Sons’ white marlin went 2,101 and Never Settle’s released white swam 2,872 nautical miles. The story doesn’t end there, though.
It Just Takes Time owner Nick Pratt and his son George tagged their white marlin last July as part of the initial Gulf Great Marlin Race. Capt. Myles Colley, a long-time member of the Pensacola Big Game Fishing Club, runs the Viking sportfisher. The tag remained on the marlin for 180 days as it traversed around the northern gulf. It popped to the surface right on schedule and began sending data back to Stanford University, where the program is managed. The IGFA was notified and within a few months the data was presented showing the track the fish took while swimming and feeding.
Unfortunately, the tag released within 120 miles of where it was deployed so it wasn’t a finalist for the Panhandle Billfish Series Great Marlin Race for 2025. But it still had a remarkable journey. In late April, 2026, the tag was found washed up on the beach in Palm Beach, Florida, having floated in the current for 60 days rounding the Florida Keys and halfway up the eastern Florida coastline. The finding of an actual satellite tag is rare, according to the IGFA’s Director of Conservation Dr. Bruce Pohlot.
“It was sitting on the beach in Palm Beach,” Pohlot explains. “Pretty wild. But the nice part is that we will get a ton more data from that tag.
“The addition of the Florida Panhandle Billfish Series to the IGMR has filled a critical data gap in the program’s billfish tracking database,” he adds. “These satellite tags, the first successfully deployed by our program in the Gulf, are providing the data necessary to better understand marlin ecology in our efforts to properly manage billfish across the world’s oceans. We would like to express our gratitude to the tagging teams for a successful 2025 tagging season and look forward to deploying four more tags in 2026.”
The Center for Billfish Conservation and Education has requested that It Just Takes Time’s satellite tag be returned to Pensacola so it can be put on display. In an interesting twist, The Center is the beneficiary from the donations made to join the Great Marlin Race. Nick’s generous gift created a full-circle experience for Capt. Colley and the crew of It Just Takes Time.
“This is the kind of work we’re trying to do with the Florida Panhandle Billfish Series,” Merritt adds. “Too many people nowadays are trying to siphon off profits from the sport-fishing community rather than promote the sport itself.”
To learn more or to sign up for the Florida Panhandle Billfish Series, please visit: www.fishfpbs.com