Record number of releases at Georgetown highlights Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series

Sure, the 2021 South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series was short, but it was oh, so sweet.

The series, which culminated its 34th run with the Edisto Invitational Billfish Tournament in July, typically has five tournaments on the schedule but was limited to three this year.

The three tournaments were chock full of riveting developments.

Georgetown Blue Marlin Frenzy

The Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament is the granddaddy of South Carolina billfish tournaments and the 53rd annual goes down as the greatest in terms of blue marlin action.

The tournament has traditionally been held in late May to coincide with the best blue marlin action available in the calendar year off the South Carolina coast. The action was incredibly hot on May 27 and 28 out of Georgetown Landing Marina.

The field of 65 boats easily shattered records for the tournament and the series by releasing 45 blue marlin.

The 45 releases easily topped the previous series record of 31, set in 2006 in the Charleston Harbor tournament. The previous record for blue marlin releases in the Georgetown tournament was 23 in 2015.

What’s more, the record-setting action happened in only two fishing days after the final day of fishing was canceled by a Small Craft Advisory last Saturday, meaning seven boats only fished one day and not the allotted two days.

“It was exciting to kick off the summer with a record number of blue marlin releases in the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament,” said Elizabeth Gooding of S.C. Department of Natural Resources, in her first year with the series as Data Coordinator.

One blue marlin was landed at Georgetown, a 445.3-pounder brought to the scales by Sportin’ Life out of Toler’s Cove Marina in Mt. Pleasant. Sportin’ Life Capt. Michael Glaesner was impressed with the record blue marlin action.

“That was spectacular, huh?” said Glaesner. “We’ve noticed this year an abundance of life out there, more than I’ve seen in many years, more birds, a lot of skipjack tuna. We’ve seen packs of 100 birds, and we’ve been marking a lot of bait.”

And The Winner Is

A week ago, the Governor’s Cup Advisory Board of Directors confirmed the final standings in the series, officially naming Inappropriate, owned by Frank Holtham and captained by Andy Crews, as the overall winner.

Inappropriate, which splits time between south Florida and Charleston, released four blue marlin to win the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament and also released six sailfish in the other two tournaments to finish with 3,675 points.

Three of the four blue marlin were released in one swoop out of Georgetown by the crew of Inappropriate. Crews and, well, crew had a rare tripleheader of blue marlin on and managed to successfully release all three.

“It’s uncommon to hook multiple blues but it does happen,” said Crews. “It’s really tough to catch them all but my crew is awesome. If it wasn’t for my crew and the fish behaving very well it would not have happened.”

First place overall in the series came down to a two-boat race in the series finale at Edisto.

Inappropriate and Home Run, owned by Steve Mungo and captained by Grant Bentley, were very close on points and traded releases on the final day of fishing.

“Towards the end of the day we caught a sail to pull in front,” said Crews. “It was definitely neck and neck that last day. Right down to the wire.”

When the dust cleared, Inappropriate finished a mere 200 points in front of Home Run, which compiled 3,475 points.

Glazed Shines

One local boat, Glazed, owned by Miles Herring of Murrells Inlet, had a super run in the series.

The Glazed crew, composed of Herring’s family and close friends, won one tournament, the Carolina Billfish Classic, then weighed in a 505-pound blue marlin during the Edisto tournament.

Glazed finished fourth overall in the series with 2,180 points. Herring’s son, 12-year-old Woods Herring, won the third-place Outstanding Youth Angler award for the series with two sailfish releases.

2022 Schedule

In 2020, COVID-19 played havoc with the series, causing most events to be postponed or canceled and eventually only one of four scheduled tournaments, the Carolina Billfish Classic, was held.

After three tournaments were held in 2021, there are four events on the recently-released schedule for 2022.

“We are looking forward to hosting four events in 2022 with the return of the Bohicket Marina Invitational Tournament in May,” said Amy Dukes, Tournament Coordinator for the series.

The 2022 schedule follows:

• Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament, May 11-14.
• 54th Annual Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament, May 25-28.
• Carolina Billfish Classic, June 22-25.
• Edisto Invitational Billfish Tournament, July 20-23.

King Tournament Frenzy

The autumnal equinox is on the horizon, set for Sept. 22, which means king mackerel tournaments aplenty along the Carolina coast.

The Marlin Quay King Mackerel Shootout out of Marlin Quay Marina in Murrells Inlet is underway this weekend and concludes on Sunday.

The South Carolina Fall Classic begins on Sept. 20 and runs through Nov. 6 with weigh-in stations in Georgetown (Georgetown Landing Marina), Mt. Pleasant and Hilton Head Island.

The U.S. Open King Mackerel Tournament out of Dutchman Creek Park in Southport, N.C., traditionally the largest king mackerel tournament on the East Coast, is set for Sept. 30.

Next up is the Rumble in the Jungle King Mackerel Tournament, scheduled for Oct. 8 out of Little River.

The flurry of king mackerel tournaments winds down with the Fall Brawl King Classic on Oct. 22 out of Ocean Isle Fishing Center.

The Captains Meeting of the South Carolina Fall Classic will be held locally on Sept. 19, 1-4 p.m., at Tailwalker Marine in Georgetown.

Fishing teams can sign up on the website at www.scfallclassic.com but tournament director Marc Pincus encourages attending the Captains Meeting.

“We’ll have good food and sponsor prizes at the Captains Meeting,” said Pincus.

Fishing teams can select three fishing days out of 47 to compete in the tournament. The heaviest three-fish aggregate wins the tournament and teams can weight two fish per day.

“The pick-your-day format, it levels the playing field for everybody,” said Pincus. “It takes the bad weather out of the equation. There are a lot of fisherman-friendly aspects to this tournament. You can weigh your fish next morning. Weekend warriors, they have a real chance.”