Picture a marina full of decorated boats, women in matching pink costumes, and serious offshore tackle all in the same breath. That’s the Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish Tournament, and it happens every August in Manteo, North Carolina. It’s part fishing tournament, part costume party, and entirely one of the Outer Banks‘ best late-summer traditions.
Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
What Is the Alice Kelly Fishing Tournament?
The Alice Kelly Memorial is a one-day, ladies-only offshore fishing tournament launching from Pirate’s Cove Marina in Manteo. In 2026, it celebrates 37 years running, with this year’s event set for August 8-9. Boats head into the Gulf Stream chasing billfish, all while raising money for Interfaith Community Outreach, a nonprofit that supports Dare County cancer patients.
Don’t let the costumes and boat-decorating contests fool you, though. Underneath the pink feather boas and themed team outfits, this is a genuinely competitive offshore event. Recent years have drawn well over 900 female anglers across 150-plus boats, making it the largest ladies-only billfish tournament in the entire world.
Local’s take:
If you’re not fishing, Pirate’s Cove Marina itself is worth the trip on tournament weekend. The pre-fishing costume parade along the docks has become almost as famous as the fishing.
What Is a Billfish Tournament?
For anyone new to offshore fishing, billfish tournaments target species with a distinctive bill or spear-shaped upper jaw, primarily blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, and spearfish. Most modern tournaments, including the Alice Kelly, use a release-based scoring format instead of bringing fish to the scales.
That means anglers earn points for successfully hooking, fighting, and releasing a billfish alive, rather than killing it for weigh-in glory. Blue marlin typically score higher than white marlin or sailfish, since they’re harder to catch and generally larger. It’s a format that rewards skill while keeping the sport more sustainable than old-school “kill tournaments” ever were.
What Is Alice Kelly Known For?
Alice Kelly was a passionate Outer Banks angler, and by all accounts, a genuinely formidable one. She fished on two championship teams, the Nags Head Sea Hags and Sam and Omie’s Billfish Babes, long before her name became attached to any memorial event.
In 1989, while battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Kelly struggled to find local cancer treatment and had to travel out of town for chemotherapy. She founded what became the Outer Banks Cancer Support Group to help other patients facing the same problem, focusing especially on transportation to distant treatment centers. She passed away that November at just 35 years old, before seeing her vision fully realized.
Friends and fellow anglers refused to let that work end with her. They launched the first Alice Kelly Memorial tournament in August 1990, turning her passion for fishing into a lasting fundraising engine.
What most visitors don’t know:
Even though many teams lean into breast cancer awareness themes with their pink costumes, the tournament’s proceeds actually support Dare County residents facing any type of cancer, not just breast cancer specifically.
How Much Money Can You Make in a Fishing Tournament?
Here’s where things get genuinely wild. The Alice Kelly itself has paid out serious money in recent years, with the winner-take-all Billfish Jackpot alone reaching around $48,000 to $49,000 in 2024. Total purses across the full event have topped six figures in recent tournaments.
That’s real money, but it’s practically pocket change compared to the biggest names in offshore fishing. The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in nearby Morehead City set a jaw-dropping record in 2026, when a single 919.9-pound blue marlin earned its crew more than $7 million between multiple prize categories. Down in Ocean City, Maryland, the White Marlin Open has crowned itself the “world’s largest and richest billfish tournament,” and in recent years has paid out single-fish prizes exceeding $6 million from purses north of $10 million.
Big Rock alone has become a genuine North Carolina institution since 1957, regularly awarding well over $6 million in total prize money across a single tournament week.
How Much to Enter a Billfish Tournament?
Entry fees vary wildly depending on the tournament and how many prize divisions a team wants to buy into. At Big Rock, for example, entry into a single division can run around $2,500, while stacking multiple prize levels and calcuttas can push a team’s total buy-in well past $10,000 or more.
The Alice Kelly stays considerably more accessible by comparison, since it’s built around participation and fundraising rather than massive individual payouts. Entry costs go directly toward the tournament’s charitable mission, and organizers keep the format welcoming for recreational anglers alongside serious tournament veterans.
What Are the Biggest Billfish Tournaments?
If you’re building out a Carolina coast fishing bucket list, two names dominate the conversation. The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City stands as the largest nonprofit fishing tournament in the entire world, drawing well over 250 boats and multimillion-dollar purses every June. Just up the coast in Maryland, the White Marlin Open claims the title of richest billfish tournament on Earth.
The Alice Kelly doesn’t compete on pure dollar figures with either of those giants, and honestly, it isn’t trying to. Its claim to fame is different: it’s the largest ladies-only billfish tournament anywhere, and arguably the most meaningful one on the entire East Coast, given its charitable roots.
Planning Your Trip to Manteo
Tournament weekend turns Pirate’s Cove Marina into one of the liveliest spots on the entire Outer Banks, so book accommodations early if you’re planning to watch the weigh-ins or cheer on a team. Nearby Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head offer the widest range of hotel options within a short drive of Manteo.
Booking platforms like Travelocity make comparing rates across nearby Outer Banks hotels simple, especially during a high-demand weekend like this one. Budget travelers should also check Red Roof Inn‘s Outer Banks-area locations, since their straightforward rates tend to hold steady even when tournament weekend pushes other hotel prices upward.
FAQ
What is the Alice Kelly fishing tournament? It’s a one-day, ladies-only offshore billfish tournament held every August out of Pirate’s Cove Marina in Manteo, North Carolina, raising funds for local cancer support through Interfaith Community Outreach.
Who was Alice Kelly? Alice Kelly was an accomplished Outer Banks angler who founded the Outer Banks Cancer Support Group in 1989 while battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She passed away that same year at age 35.
How much money can you win at the Alice Kelly Memorial? Recent Billfish Jackpot payouts have reached roughly $48,000 to $49,000 for the winning team, with total tournament purses exceeding $100,000 in some years.
What’s the difference between the Alice Kelly and the Big Rock tournament? The Alice Kelly is a ladies-only, charity-focused event with modest payouts compared to Big Rock, which is a mixed-gender tournament in Morehead City that has awarded single-fish prizes worth millions of dollars.
Is the Alice Kelly Memorial open to beginner anglers? Yes. While plenty of serious offshore anglers compete, the tournament welcomes recreational teams, and many participants join primarily for the charitable cause and community atmosphere.
Somewhere between the pink boas and the blue marlin releases, the Alice Kelly Memorial captures exactly what makes the Carolina coast special: real community, wrapped around real adventure.
While the Alice Kelly Tournament is an absolute highlight of August on the Outer Banks, the coast celebrates all year long. Discover more amazing events in our complete Carolina Coast Year-Round Festival Guide.
For more beach guides and Carolina coastal travel inspiration, keep exploring explorecarolinabeaches.com
Planning a Carolina beach trip? Use our Beach Finder Quiz to get a personalized recommendation, or compare any two beaches side by side with the Carolina Beach Comparison Tool.