Georgetown once again proves prime spot to land blue marlin

When it comes to seeing a blue marlin at the dock, the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament is the place to be among the tournament venues in the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series.

For the second time in the last four years, two blue marlin were landed in the 49th annual tournament at Georgetown Landing Marina, both last Friday on the final day of fishing.

To put that into perspective, the last year more than two blue marlin were landed in the entire Governor’s Cup series was 2005, when nine were landed in the series including three at Georgetown.

In the 11 years (including 2016) since that banner year in 2005, a total of nine blue marlin have been landed in the series – seven of them at Georgetown.

“I’ve always loved Georgetown, it’s the granddaddy of them all,” said Victor “Bubba” Roof, owner of the winning boat, Game On. “I’ve fished them all and they always put on the best show in the whole cup. It’s the most boats, the best camaraderie and the best-run tournament there is.”

Roof’s Game On crew, based out of Toler’s Cove Marina in Mount Pleasant, landed the larger of the two blue marlin, a 477.2-pounder, and released two more blue marlin – all within a span of five hours – to win the points and cash award portions of the tournament.

Big Sky, owned by Georgetown’s Jim Johnston, brought in the other blue marlin, a 460.1-pounder. Johnston docks the 59-foot Paul Spencer Yacht at Georgetown Landing Marina.

Following are details on the catches:

Big Sky: Johnston and his crew aboard Big Sky finished second in the cash award category as his nephew, Tripp Johnston of San Diego, was the angler on the fish.

Jim Johnston, who has fished in all 49 editions of the tournament, used a classic bait to catch the blue marlin – a lure made by the tournament’s founder, the late Wallace Pate.

“We caught the fish on a Wallace Pate lure made in the late 1980s,” Johnston said. “We were pulling Wallace’s lures on two of our seven lines. We had a marlin bite the first day but we managed to not hook it. But on Friday it was a different day. I’m rarely fishing for blue marlin when I don’t have one of his lure’s in the water.”

Johnston has been on the winning crew of the tournament twice during its storied history and has finished second twice. He is already looking forward to the golden anniversary of South Carolina’s oldest billfish tournament.

“Next year on my 50th tournament, maybe I’ll win it again,” Johnston said. “I’m going to try for sure.”

Game On: Capt. Trey “Cricket” McMillan said he was trolling inshore of 1,000 fathoms just south of the Georgetown Hole when all three blues were hooked up by Game On, a 66-foot Paul Spencer Yacht.

After releasing the two blue marlin between 10 and 11 a.m., Game On hooked up with the 477.2-pounder at about 2:20 p.m.

Roof’s wife, Kelli Ann Roof, was the angler on all three blue marlin.

“I’ve gotten to the point where I like to hook ‘em and she likes to crank ‘em in,” said Bubba Roof, a resident of North and owner of Sea Hunt Boats. “We always let her get first crack at it and she never gets tired. We just love it.”

Game On finished with a total of 1,678 points including 600 points for each blue marlin release and 478 points (one point per pound) for the landed blue marlin.

Sportin’ Life was second with 1,200 release points including a doubleheader sailfish release on Thursday and a blue marlin and sailfish release Friday afternoon.

Caramba was in third place with 1,100 points including a sailfish release the first day of fishing followed by a white marlin and blue marlin release last Friday.

A sailfish release earns 200 points, a white marlin 300 points and a blue marlin 600 points in Governor’s Cup events.

The third leg of the series - the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament - is underway and concludes Saturday.

Rotary Flounder Tournament

The Murrells Inlet Rotary Flounder Tournament will be held June 11 in Murrells Inlet.

The Captains Meeting will be held June 10 at 6 p.m. at Crazy Sister Marina. Lines in is at 6 a.m. on June 11 with the awards ceremony to follow that evening at 6:30 p.m.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Georgetown once again proves prime spot to land blue marlin."