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** Archived Article - please check for current information. **

June 29, 2011

Third round results from the SC Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series

The third tournament in the 23rd season of the South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series, the Carolina Billfish Classic took place June 22-25 at Toler’s Cove Marina in Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown landing in Georgetown. A total of 31 boats participated in the tournament with 56 billfish releases, including 6 blue marlin, 6 white marlin and 44 sailfish. No billfish were landed. Wallace Jenkins, Series Program Director for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR), added, "Based on the pictures I saw there were some very large blue marlin released and the catch rate was phenomenal with an average of 1.8 billfish released/ boat. That’s a good days fishing just about anywhere in the country this time of year."

The Outstanding Billfish Boat was awarded to Caramba, owned by Robert Faith of Charleston, and captained by Dale Lackey. The boat crew secured their first place win with the catch and released of one blue marlin and six sailfish, accruing 1,800 total release points.

Second place for Outstanding Billfish Boat went to Sportin’ Life, owned by Manly and Graham Eubank. Mike Glaesner captained the boat, which caught and released one blue marlin, one white marlin and three sailfish to accumulate 1,500 release points.

Rascal took third place for Outstanding Billfish Boat. The boat is owned by Norman Pulliam and captained by Mark Rogers, and the boat crew caught and released one blue marlin and four sailfish to earn 1,400 release points.

Outstanding Dolphin was awarded to Lenny Cannon for his 52.2-pound dolphin caught aboard Full Pull, owned by John Floyd and captained by Charles Moore.

Angler Matt Key, fishing aboard El Tejano, won the Outstanding Wahoo award with a 27.8-pound fish. The boat is owned by John Hill and captained by David Redd.

Jeff Jones won the Outstanding Tuna award aboard Syked Out, owned by David Sykes and captained by Dan Woody, for his 12.8-pound Blackfin.

First place for Outstanding Lady Angler went to Amy Bennett for releasing one white marlin aboard Rodeo. Second place for Outstanding Lady Angler went to Cissy Bonifay, fishing aboard El Tejano, for a 19.8-pound dolphin.

Six-year-old Cordes Johnson won first place for Outstanding Youth Angler for a 3.8-pound dolphin caught aboard Petrel.

Two tournaments remain in this year’s Series:

For more information on the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series contact Wally Jenkins at (843) 953-9835 or JenkinsW@dnr.sc.gov, and Amy Dukes at (843) 953-9365 or DukesA@dnr.sc.gov. You can also visit the Governor's Cup website to learn more about the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series, get information about the individual tournaments, and to keep up with this year’s standings.

Boats participating in the Series amass points for billfish either landed or caught and released. Tagging is optional and not required for Series points. Anglers compete for four major awards: Outstanding Billfish (single heaviest billfish), Outstanding Billfish Boat (most accumulated points) and Outstanding Billfish Conservationist (most points for released fish), and the Blue Water Conservation Award (most accumulated tag and release points for dolphin, wahoo, and yellowfin tuna). At present, the Series is being lead by Reel Passion, owned by William Ingram and captained by Gary Richardson, with a total of 4,075 release and participation points.

By encouraging live tag and release, the Series has focused attention on the population status of Atlantic billfish and encouraged conservation of all marine resources.

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