Great weather and willing fish welcomed a festive fleet at the third annual St. Paddy’s Day-themed sport fishing tournament extravaganza.
“May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it.” – Irish Blessing; Author: Unknown
March 12-13, 2021 – Sailfish Marina [Palm Beach, FL] – In the theme of St. Paddy’s Day, Pelagic once again brought the fun to South Florida with its Third Annual Shamrock Shootout that featured concerts, parties, and a fishing tournament extravaganza.
Iconic Sailfish Marina [Palm Beach, FL] - home of the Pelagic Shamrock Shootout
Held annually at Sailfish Marina [Singer Island – Palm Beach, FL] on St. Paddy’s Day Weekend, this unique tournament is packed full of excitement, and laced with Irish flare. Offering fun for all in an anyone-can-win-type format, and located at one of sport fishing’s landmark destinations, the stage was set for an incredible weekend filled with good vibes, calm seas, and of course – green beer.
Weigh-ins took place front & center in tournament village
The event kicked off on Friday, March 12th, where teams & participants were greeted by the tunes of DJ Lance-O of Kulcha Shok Muzik, before the day’s main act – popular Floridian reggae-ska band, Spred The Dub – took the tournament village main stage to perform a high-energy, multi-hour set of both original and cover “good-time reggae-rock” songs.
DJ Kulcha Shok introduces the tournament's main act: Spred The Dub
In honor of the Celtic celebration, our good friends at Cutwater Spirits offered any of-age tournament patrons a complimentary assortment of their best-selling canned cocktails, while local favorite - Saltwater Brewery - poured a limited-brew green version of their popular Island Breeze IPA, affectionately dubbed “Irish Breeze”.
Cutwater Spirts & Saltwater Brewery - Official Beverage Partners of the 2021 Pelagic Shamrock Shootout
Following opening ceremonies, the beautiful Pelagic Girls, Allison & Amber, hosted a super raffle – wearing their dolphin green, of course – where lucky winners took home some incredible prizes such as Pelagic Backpacks and Duffels & high-end Pelagic Polarized Sunglasses.
Each team received an official team bag with tournament t-shirts, hats, coozies, wristbands, and giveaways from event sponsors
The tournament offered five species available to weigh – kingfish, dolphin, wahoo, cobia, & blackfin tuna – in which first through fifth place trophies and cash prizes were awarded to teams for their cumulative weight total of eight maximum fish, with no more than four per species. Teams also had the opportunity to purchase into any of the optional species calcuttas or value-added KDW jackpots to raise the stakes.
Dolphin - AKA Mahi-Mahi or Dorado - are one of the five species available in the Shamrock Shootout
Awaiting the overall winner of the 2021 Pelagic Shamrock Shootout was the distinguished title of ‘Tournament Grand Champion’ as well as a highly coveted, one-of-a-kind grand prize. This year, a custom Shamrock Shootout-edition Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar along with a 70 Quart Cooler from sponsors, Cutwater Spirits, were up for grabs putting anticipation of the next day’s one-day tournament at an all-time high.
Some incredible prizes and trophies await the 2021 Pelagic Shamrock Shootout Tournament Grand Champions
The tournament officially commenced at 7:30am on Saturday, March 13th, where 37 teams competing for $65,000 in cash prizes had until 3:30pm until they were required to stop fishing. At Sailfish Marina, each team brought their respective kingfish, dolphin, wahoo, cobia, & blackfin tuna to be weighed and documented at the tournament’s official weigh station.
Tournament teams exit Palm Beach Inlet in hopes of finding the proverbial offshore pot o' gold during the Shamrock Shootout
Four jackpots were secured by teams entered into the optional categories. Sea Otter/No Fly Zone weighed in a 43.0 lb. kingfish – the largest of the tournament – to win that optional pot; Off The Wall scored a 37.0 lb. cobia to secure that pot; Team Bombchelle with Pelagic Pro Team member, Michelle “Bombchelle” Dalton, scored an 18.4 lb. blackfin tuna to earn $4,640; and lastly, Southern Run weighed a 16.6 lb. dolphin to earn a jackpot payout of $4,640.
Team 'Bombchelle' weighs in their jackpot winning blackfin tuna, caught aboard the Pelagic-wrapped 36' Yellowfin Center Console
At the end of the weigh-ins, all scores were tallied and the 2021 Shamrock Shootout winners were celebrated on the tournament’s main stage…
Team 'Southern Run' secures the dolphin jackpot
Taking the coveted title of Shamrock Shootout Tournament Grand Champion was Team Off The Wall. Their combined weight total of 112.8-lbs. earned them top honors in this third annual event; and, along with scoring the optional Cobia Jackpot, Off The Wall took home a total prize of $13,570. Congrats to Captain John Anderson, Bo Jenyns, and the Off The Wall crew!
Congrats to Team OFF THE WALL - 2021 Pelagic Shamrock Shootout Tournament Grand Champions!
Team Doing It All/Hardway earned second place overall in the tournament with a combined score of 102.2-lbs. to win a check for $3,700.
Team DOING IT ALL/HARDWAY - 2nd Place Overall
Reel Synergy with Captain Chip Sheehan aboard the iconic Pelagic Americamo-wrapped 44’ Contender was awarded third place overall with a weight total of 101.8-lbs. to score a payout of $2,775.
Team REEL SYNERGY - 3rd Place Overall
Team Florida Man aboard the Pelagic-wrapped 39’ Seahunter took home the fourth place trophy and a $1,850 payout for their score of 74.8-lbs.
Team FLORIDA MAN - 4th Place Overall
And finally, Team Sea Otter/No Fly Zone was awarded fifth place for their 54.5-lb. weight total. Combined with their kingfish jackpot, the team earned solid payout of $6,045.
Team SEA OTTER/NO FLY ZONE - 5th Place Overall + Kingfish Jackpot
After the award’s ceremony, Lance-O of Kulcha Shok Muzik kept the good times flowing with his vibrant, reggae-rock sounds. The vibes were high as tournament participants enjoyed the tropical tunes while tipping back a few celebratory brews from our friends at Cutwater Spirits and Saltwater Brewery.
Fun times for all at the 3rd Annual Pelagic Shamrock Shootout
The PELAGIC International Tournament Series and the 2021 Shamrock Shootout would like to send out a heartfelt thanks to all those who fished with us in this St. Paddy’s Day Weekend event while offering to donate a large percentage of their catch to Fillets For Friends. Collectively, 331-lbs. of fillets were donated which equates to feeding roughly 1,000 people in need. Incredible work and thanks again to all!
Fillets on fillets! Great work by our tournament participants in donating their catch to an incredible cause
A special thanks goes out also to Sailfish Marina and their incredible staff for being such gracious hosts and providing an amazing venue to grow this tournament year after year. Thanks again to Cutwater Spirits and Saltwater Brewery for generously serving their respective libations all weekend long, and to our performers, Spred The Dub and Kulcha Shok Music, for their electric performances.
Final send-off! See you next year on St. Paddy's Day Weekend.
We’ll see you all next year for the 4th Annual Pelagic Shamrock Shootout on St. Paddy’s Day Weekend – March 11-12, 2022!
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