The Gulf Coast Triple Crown Championship is proud to announce that the Bay Point Billfish Open will join the championship lineup in 2027. The newly added tournament, based in Panama City Beach, shares some history with the GCTC — its predecessor, the Bay Point Billfish Invitational, was one of the most iconic Gulf Coast big-game fishing tournaments since its inception in 1984, and was part of the original Triple Crown lineup when the chase launched in 2011. That year also marked the last year of the historic event.
— Scott Burt, Gulf Coast Triple Crown
The Bay Point Billfish Open brought big-game tournament fishing back to Panama City Beach in 2023, and over the past few years most of the top competing teams for the Gulf Coast Triple Crown have taken part in the popular new event.
The 2027 Bay Point Billfish Open will run June 23–26, 2027, making it the last leg of the Triple Crown before the finale at the Blue Marlin Grand Championship at The Wharf, July 15–17, in Orange Beach, AL.
The 2027 Gulf Coast Triple Crown will have five qualifying events in all, beginning at The Wharf with the Orange Beach Billfish Classic, May 13–15, followed by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic, June 10–12, before heading to Florida for the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic at Sandestin, June 17–19.
Since 2011, the Gulf Coast Triple Crown Championship has been known as the most sought-after billfish championship in sportfishing — an annual competition built not on big-dollar payouts, but on the honor and respect earned among captains and crews recognized as the best of the best. And, of course, the trophy that comes with winning.