The South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series ended its 18th season over the Fourth of July holiday weekend with Home Run winning the Charleston City Marina’s HMY/Viking Megadock Billfish Tournament. Eighty-one boats participated and fished two out of three days. 131 billfish were released, which surpasses the Series record of 90 billfish caught during the 1999 Charleston Harbor Marina & Resort Billfish Tournament.
The billfish record included 31 blue marlin, 37 white marlin and 63 sailfish. Last year’s MegaDock tournament netted 82 billfish releases. No billfish were boated during this year’s MegaDock tournament.
The crew of Home Run won top honors earning 1300 points for catching and releasing 2 blue marlin and 7 sailfish. Home Run is owned by Steven Mungo of Columbia and captained by Grant Bentley. Crewmember Bennett Griffin reeled in 2 blue marlin and 6 sailfish, and owner Steven Mungo caught 1 sailfish for the winning team.
Second place for Best Billfish Boat went to Bentley’s Best, owned by Steven Deese of Lexington, and captained by Jimmy Moore. Bentley’s Best caught and released 3 blue marlin, 1 white marlin, and 1 sailfish to earn 1150 points.
Third place for Best Billfish Boat was awarded to Blue Sky, owned by Greg Smith, for catching and releasing 2 blue marlin and 3 white marlin to earn 1050 points.
Points for of the Governor’s Cup tournaments are awarded as follows:
* 300 points for a tagged or released blue marlin,
* 150 points for a tagged or released white marlin,
* 100 points for a tagged or released sailfish.
* Boats are also awarded 25 participation points for each tournament entered up to a maximum of three events.
The Outstanding Wahoo Award went to Rusty Carter’s Stream Weaver, for a 79.6-pound wahoo catch by angler David Thomas.
Thomas McCook’s Shorter Pie won top honors for Outstanding Dolphin for a 54.0-pound dolphin caught by angler Paul Thompson.
Honors for the most Outstanding Tuna was awarded to John Cagle’s Juncanewt for a 46.4-pound yellowfin tuna by angler Rick Link.
Libby Kosnik won first place for the Outstanding Female Angler Award for a blue marlin and a sailfish catch and release on Special Lady, owned by her father Ed Kosnik.
The second place Outstanding Female Angler Award went to Morgan Montgomery onboard Doug Hinson’s High Current. Third place Outstanding Female Angler Award was awarded to Whitney Jeffrey on Ed Renken’s Sea Fox.
The Outstanding Youth Angler during the MegaDock tournament was 14-year old Al DeLeon, onboard his father Al DeLeon’s boat Emotional Rescue. Morgan Montgomery, 11, fishing on Doug Hinson’s High Current, finished in second place in the Outstanding Youth Angler category. Third place in the Outstanding Youth Angler competition went to Hunter Clifton, 11, who was onboard the Yo Yo, owned by his father Kenneth Clifton.
The final tournament was a big hit on many levels, and S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Series Coordinator Tom DuPre noted that, “The facilities were top-notch, and the tournament staff did a superlative job to put on an outstanding event.”
A tournament record for the number of anglers catching billfish was also reached, which DuPre said stemmed from “Absolutely fantastic fishing.”
For more information on the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series contact Tom DuPre by e-mail at dupret@dnr.sc.gov or check the Website at http://govcup.dnr.sc.gov/.
The 2006 N.C./S.C. Billfish Shootout Tournament was held the same weekend with South Carolina claiming the victory. The South Carolina team of Chicora, Houdini, Petrel, Rascal and Rookie IV amassed a whopping 1550 points to the total of only 450 points from the North Carolina Team.
Boats participating in the Series and the Shootout amass points for billfish that have been either landed, tagged, or released.
Series anglers compete for four major awards: Outstanding Billfish (single heaviest billfish), Outstanding Billfish Boat (most accumulated points) and Outstanding Billfish Conservationist (most points for tagged or released fish), and the Blue Water Conservation Award (most accumulated tag and release points for dolphin, wahoo, and yellowfin tuna).
By encouraging live tag and release, the Series has focused attention on the sharp decline of Atlantic billfish and encouraged conservation of all marine
resources.
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