Pelagic California Tuna Challenge Makes Triumphant Return for Second Consecutive Year

Tight finishes across the board and a story of redemption makes for an exciting and competitive final showdown.

FULL TOURNAMENT PHOTO GALLERY HERE

The Pelagic California Tuna Challenge was a success for a second consecutive year. Despite some challenging El Nino conditions and unseasonably warm water the Tuna Challenge was well received by participants.  A hot local Yellowtail bite and some quality Dorado fishing welcomed 20 teams competing for over $40k in cash and Prizes. While tuna fishing was a challenge due to the strong El Nino conditions, teams battled hard and made it work by filling all categories in this premier, SoCal fishing event.

 

 

Registration, and Captain’s meetings were held this year on Tuesday, August 18^th, at Pelagic Headquarters in Costa Mesa, followed by a second showing on Wednesday August 19^th, at Seaforth Landing in San Diego.  As always, participating teams took home some incredible team bags, containing high quality, limited edition, California Tuna Challenge Pelagic apparel including a sweatshirt, t-shirt, and hat, an assortment of BKK hooks and a special set of three fillet knives and a roll up storage bag from our outstanding partner, Danco Pliers. Anglers from across the SoCal area and a few traveling from as far away as Florida and Nashville, Tennessee, gathered to try their luck and test their skills in several categories, fishing for Bluefin, Yellowfin and Big Eye Tuna, as well as Yellowtail and Dorado.

 

This event allows teams to depart from any SoCal port, harbor or legal anchorage and fish continuously for 36 and a half hours if they so desire. The unique format let’s anglers take advantage of sunrise, late afternoon and late-night feeding periods. With departure time at 12:00 midnight on Friday morning, a 5:30am lines-in call and no boundaries, strategy becomes a big factor in how teams approach this competition.

 

 

Official tournament weigh stations were located at Seaforth Landing in San Diego and on Catalina Island at the Historic Green Pier in the City of Avalon. Catalina is the home of the oldest fishing club in the world, the Avalon Tuna Club. Extended weigh station hours from 5:00pm – 9:00pm, give teams the option of weighing fish both Friday and Saturday evening.

With tuna taking the main stage, overall tournament winners are ultimately decided by the team weighing their single heaviest Bluefin, Yellowfin or Big Eye Tuna. Added optional jackpots include both Yellowtail and Dorado and a two-fish aggregate tuna opportunity, giving teams the chance to win some bonus cash and prizes.

 

 

Day one was slow at the scales with most teams opting to stay out and take advantage of no boundary constraints and the extended fishing hours. However, Team Tuna Chef brought a 19.2lb Dorado to the scales at Catalina, and Team Gaff Snappers weighed a 20.5lb Yellowtail.

 

 

One other quality Yellowtail was weighed on Friday, with Team Smooth Operator weighing a 17.3-lb fish.

 

 

Saturdays weigh station session proved to be very exciting, with steady action on Catalina and in San Diego. Teams weighed a variety of species throughout the early evening and into the night, with the final teams arriving at the scales just after 8:30pm.

 

 

When the dust had settled and the results were in, close finishes across the top three tuna winners and the top optional jackpot winners in both yellowtail and dorado were the theme of the day.

In third place overall, it was Team Reel Addiction making it to the podium with their 34.5 pound bluefin tuna and a well-deserved third place trophy and array of quality prizes.

 

 

In Second Place it was defending champion, team RJ & J/Briggs Electric, with Captain Chuck Newberry and Pelagic Pro-Team member Joseph Ta on Wahoo-Son, with a 36.4 pound bluefin. They also claimed the two fish, aggregate optional tuna jackpot with a second fish weighing 33.7 pounds. With a combined weight of 70.1 pounds, the team took home the second-place trophy and cash and prizes worth $16,000.

 

 

But the real story this year was first place finishers and your 2026, California Tuna Challenge Champions, Team Reel Housewives. Fishing on Bounty Hunter with Captain Steve Carlton, their 43.9-pound yellowfin tuna was the largest tuna of any eligible tuna species brought to the scales this year. Hailing from the great state of Florida, this team of lady anglers travelled across the country and were back for the second consecutive year to participate. These ladies were on a mission and were determined to redeem themselves after a very frustrating and humbling 2025 experience. In the 2025 event, they had faced extremely nasty weather conditions and a tournament ending mechanical breakdown, leading to a marathon adventure at sea, ultimately being towed backed to port, missing the final weigh-in cutoff by several hours. Not to be deterred, they took that experience in stride, remained positive throughout the ordeal and were determined to make the journey back across the country this year in search of redemption. A true testament to learning from experience, being grateful for even the tough times and to getting back at it, after what many would consider a failure. These ladies proved that perseverance, friendship and a never give up attitude will eventually take you to the top of the mountain. Congratulations to Kristen Kapela, Nicholette Van Buren and Deanna Pritchard for your well-earned victory.

 

 

Rounding out our winners, the following teams took home our optional jackpots for dorado and yellowtail.

Yellowtail Jackpot Winners:

$500 optional yellowtail jackpot winners and weighing the largest yellowtail at 33lbs, Team Tuna Taxi good for $1,200, a Deckhand Sports fish bag and a $250 Pelagic online shopping spree.

 

 

$1k optional yellowtail jackpot winners and $1k dorado jackpot winners, Team Blind Faith with a 24.2lb yellowtail and a 17.4lb dorado good for $1,600.

$250 optional yellowtail jackpot winners, Team Boundless with a 22.1lb yellowtail good for $2,400.

 

 

Dorado Jackpot Winners:

$500 optional dorado jackpot winners, Team Castigo with a 20.8lb dorado and also winning the 50/50 charity raffle, benefiting CCA California, good for $2,050.

$250 optional dorado jackpot winners, Team Tuna Chef with the largest dorado of the tournament weighing 23lbs, good for $2,200, a Deckhand Sports fish bag and a $250 Pelagic online shopping spree.

 

 

Our conservation and charity give back partner was CCA California again this year. CCA California is integral in advocating for the sportfishing and recreational fishing community. They are constantly lobbying our industry and put a lot of hard work and effort into making sure we continue to have a seat at the table when it comes to fisheries management and recreational fishing regulations. They played a significant role in keeping the SoCal bluefin tuna off the endangered species list and they are currently working to make sure the new White Sea Bass regulations are not punitive and over restrictive for recreational anglers in California. Thank you to Tonie Bongos and her crew for attending our awards celebration this year at the Dana Point Yacht Club. We were proud to raise $1,250 for CCA this year, through our 50/50 optional charity jackpot and we look forward to continuing to support CCA’s work in the years ahead. Be sure to check out their upcoming charity Golf tournament, Oct 23, at the Costa Mesa Country Club.

A heart felt thank you to San Diego Marlin Club President Justin Reden and his team for taking on the important responsibility of being our official Weigh Master at our Seaforth Landing scale location, in San Diego. The San Diego Marlin Club are great partners with Pelagic, and it is truly an honor for us to support such a storied and important fishing club. We appreciate all they do for the local community and we look forward to continuing to support their efforts throughout the years ahead.

Seaforth Landing was a new location for us this year and we’d like to thank Dustin Hackman and his team of volunteers from Seaforth Sportfishing for welcoming us with open arms and for going the extra mile to make us feel right at home. They are also great partners, and we are proud to have Pelagic Apparel Brand now represented in what is one of the best and most complete, full-service tackle centers on the San Diego harbor. If you are in San Diego, be sure to stop in and say hello to Dustin and his crew. They run a tight ship and not only have one of the most complete tackle stores in SoCal but also offer a variety of top-notch half day, full day and multi day fishing charters on their beautiful fleet of sport boats.

Thank you to the city and residents of Avalon, the Avalon Harbor Patrol, and the crew from Avalon Seafood, on the Avalon Green Pier. Miguel and his team are always friendly and do a great job helping us hoist and weigh our team’s fish out on Catalina Island. It is always a thrill to be in Catalina. This unique island community is steeped in sportfishing history and is the birthplace of many of the techniques and equipment used in today’s sportfishing world including modern-day kite fishing, the stand-up style of big game angling, the Star Drag System and the use of fighting chairs, just to name a few.

Thank you to all our contributing team prize partners and contributors. We pride ourselves on providing our winning teams with only top-quality prizes, consisting of top-of-the-line equipment from the best brands in the industry. This year our winning teams went home with some epic prizes provided by:

Shimano Reels: 

Danco Pliers: https://www.dancopliers.com/

Morita Custom Gaffs: https://www.moritagaffs.com/

Deckhand Sports: https://deckhandsports.com/

Turtle Box Audio: https://turtleboxaudio.com/

California Flyer: https://californiaflyerco.com/

R.A.P. Systems: https://www.rapsystems.shop/

BKK Hooks: https://bkkhooks-americas.com/

Pelagic: www.pelagicgear.com