Blues rule opening day at Georgetown

The Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament lived up to its name during the opening day of fishing in the 48th annual event out of Georgetown Landing Marina Thursday as the 2015 South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series got underway.

In unofficial results as of mid-afternoon Thursday, six of the 10 billfish released by the 39 boats fishing were blue marlin with three white marlin and one sailfish also released. No blue marlin were brought to the dock. A blue marlin release earns 600 points, white marlin 300 points and sailfish 200 points in Governor’s Cup events.

Six boats released blue marlin and another released two white marlin at the top of a packed leaderboard with 600 points each. Caramba was the first boat to release a billfish, a blue marlin at 9:46 a.m., and was declared the first-day leader. Other boats releasing blue marlin were Sportsmann, My Three Sons, Summer Girl, Micabe and Full Pull. Reel Passion released two white marlin within five minutes of each other at midday to also earn 600 points on the day.

A total of 41 boats are competing in the tournament with all but two fishing on opening day. Fishing continues on Friday and Saturday, with boats allowed to fish two of the three days.

Earlier this week, one of the competing boats – Miss Wy – caused a stir when pre-fishing the tournament. Miss Wy, led by Capt. Matt Wilkinson, released a blue marlin on Saturday and another on Monday. The huge blue marlin released on Monday has gotten quite a reaction on Facebook after a video taken by Lee Prickett of the fish clearing the water near the boat on a tranquil ocean made the rounds.

“That was a monster,” said John Horton, General Manager of Georgetown Landing Marina.

To see the video and to keep up with the tournament the next two days, check out the Governor’s Cup Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SCGovsCupBillfish.

This story was originally published May 21, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Blues rule opening day at Georgetown."