How a Murrells Inlet crew topped Pawleys Island neighbors to win a billfishing tourney
Ten minutes.
That was all that separated first and second place for a pair of Georgetown County boats last Saturday in the Carolina Billfish Classic staged out of the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mt. Pleasant.
Both the family-oriented crew aboard Glazed, owned by Miles Herring of Murrells Inlet, and Blue Sky, owned by Greg Smith and skippered by Capt. Jay Weaver, both of Pawleys Island, finished with 1,000 points after releasing one blue marlin and two sailfish.
The winner of the tournament, the second leg of the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series, came down to which team accumulated the point total first on Saturday afternoon, the final day of fishing.
With Johnny Cisne on the rod, Glazed hooked up with a blue marlin early in the afternoon and subsequently released the estimated 300-pounder at 1:15 p.m. to up their total release points to 1,000.
Meanwhile, Herring’s buddies aboard Blue Sky had a sailfish on and released the fish at 1:25 p.m. to complete the crew’s 1,000 points.
After all catch-and-releases were confirmed by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ officials, Glazed was declared the winner.
“They were just 10 minutes behind us,” said Miles Herring of Glazed, a custom-built 58 Dean Johnson. “We were fishing the same area, and I could see the Blue Sky when I was catching my fish. I know everybody on Blue Sky – they’re good friends.”
Lucid Interval finished third with 600 points for a blue marlin release.
Herring’s crew aboard Glazed is a gathering of family and friends, a family-fishing tradition that has spanned generations.
“The coolest thing about it is it’s kind of a family operation,” said Herring. “We’ve got third-generation people fishing. That’s the unique part of it all. We’re passing down this boating experience. It’s a good feeling. Anytime you can spend time with family and friends and come out successful, it’s a good thing.”
All four of Herring’s children started fishing at a young age and love to fish. His sons, 19-year-old Miles Jr., and 12-year-old Woods, and 15-year-old daughter Ella Neal were part of the crew, along with family friends Critt Gore, Justin Condor, Lee Tiller, Wilson Springs III and Cisne.
Woods Herring was the angler on both sailfish and took home the Outstanding Youth Angler award category.
“(Woods) is an experienced angler,” said Herring. “Both my boys have been fishing offshore since they were four. Wilson and Miles started fishing together when they were four or five years old. They’ve been doing this together with their parents for 15 years already.”
Glazed worked an area southeast of Charleston in 300-500 feet of water on both of the boat’s declared fishing days, last Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Glazed missed two shots at sailfish and caught some dolphin. Then, about 10 a.m. Saturday morning the action took off for the crew.
First, Woods Herring was the angler on the two sailfish, which were released at 10:04 a.m. and 12:17 p.m. Then a whirlwind three-plus hours culminated in the blue marlin release with Cisne serving as the angler at 1:15 p.m.
“We were busy,” said Miles Herring. “We just got lucky really. It’s a good group of guys, we got lucky and took advantage of the opportunities we had. It all came together. More times than not you don’t take advantage of the opportunities, you miss them.”
After releasing the blue marlin, Herring and crew weren’t sure if they had won the tournament but they knew they had had a good day.
“I thought Jay (Weaver aboard Blue Sky) had another fish,” said Herring. “We didn’t know we had won until we got within cell range. We were at the jetties when we put all the math together. We were happy all along, we knew we had done well. Of course it’s not final until (S.C. DNR) validates the day.”
The billfish activity was significantly below the action found in the series opener, the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament out of Georgetown Landing Marina.
A total of 29 billfish were released in the tournament by the field of 40 boats including 19 sailfish, 9 blue marlin and 1 white marlin. In late May at Georgetown, a series record 45 blue marlin were released.
The third and final tournament in the 2021 series is the Edisto Invitational Billfish Tournament, set for July 21-24.
For complete results, visit www.govcup.dnr.sc.gov.
Carolina Ahi, Mahi, Ono Classic
This meatfish tournament was held in conjunction with the Carolina Billfish Classic staged out of the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina in Mt. Pleasant last weekend, and Georgetown County showed up big again.
Lucas Williams of Georgetown fished aboard his 26-foot Key West, Double Diamond, with Capt. J Baisch and Englis “Capt. E” Glover, both of Murrells Inlet, and won the tournament over a field of 24 boats.
The trio had an aggregate of 65.8 pounds after weighing in a 17-pound blackfin tuna (ahi), 22-pound dolphin (mahi) and 27-pound wahoo (ono), easily claiming first place.
Dual Threat, a 34-foot Freeman, finished second with 44 pounds, and Legal Limit, a 32-foot Custom Carolina, was third with 36.2 pounds.
The awards ceremony for the tournament preceded the ceremony for the Carolina Billfish Classic last Saturday.
This story was originally published July 3, 2021 at 10:00 AM.