ATLANTIC

DAY 2 RECAP — 2026 Montauk Canyon Challenge: Pescador Draws First Blood With a White Marlin Release as the Tuna Boards Stay Open

July 11, 2026

Atlantic

Science of Fishing Editorial

The Pescador, an 80-foot Bayliss out of St. John, USVI, docked at the 2026 Montauk Canyon Challenge

The 2026 Montauk Canyon Challenge finally has a name atop a leaderboard. On Saturday, July 11, the 80-foot Bayliss Pescador — out of St. John, USVI — put the tournament's first score on the board when angler John Deckoff released a white marlin, staking the boat to the early lead in the Billfish Points category.

It is a modest first mark on a very big board. The Captain's Choice event, founded in 2011 by Dave O'Halloran and presented by SI Yachts, drew 89 boats and a prize pool north of $1.23 million this year. Through Day 2, Pescador's release is the only catch logged tournament-wide — first blood in what is shaping up to be a slow-building week.

Billfish Points — early standings

1. Pescador — 100 pts (1 white marlin release, John Deckoff)

Every weight category — Heaviest Tuna, Heaviest Yellowfin, the Heaviest 3 Yellowfin stringer, Heaviest Wahoo, Heaviest Mahi and Heaviest Bluefin among them — still reads No Results. In a tournament where the tuna calcuttas carry the biggest checks, that means the richest boards are all still there for the taking.

An angler hoists a yellowfin tuna in the cockpit of a sportfishing boat offshore during the Montauk Canyon Challenge — Yellowfin tuna are the headline target at the Montauk Canyon Challenge, and the heavy-weight boards remained open through Day 2. Photo: Montauk Canyon Challenge.

Boats on the troll

The fleet is very much fishing. Reel Time's live activity feed showed Pescador, Slim Shady, One More and Emotional Rescue all starting or working offshore trips through Friday night and Saturday, with the canyons roughly 150 miles from the dock. Conditions were fishable, and boats were burning their allotted fishing hours rather than sitting out the weather.

A Montauk Canyon Challenge trucker cap resting on the varnished covering board of a sportfishing boat — The Montauk Canyon Challenge runs on a Captain's Choice format across a July 10–18 window. Photo: Montauk Canyon Challenge.

How the format works

Unlike a shotgun-start tournament, the MCC is a Captain's Choice event: each boat picks when to fish inside the July 10–18 window and runs its own weather-window clock. That is why a board can stay quiet for days and then fill quickly once the fleet commits to its best forecast. With the window open through Saturday, July 18 — and Reel Fest and the awards dinner at Gosman's Dock to close it out — there is a long way to go before the tuna scales and the release board settle.

Standings are unofficial and drawn from the tournament's live Reel Time leaderboard (reeltime.app). Results may shift as catches are reviewed; contact tournament organizers for official results.