Cerveza owns lead at billfish tournament

MOUNT PLEASANT — Tom Russell of Reston, Va., and his crew for the Cerveza decided to stop off on a return trip from the Bahamas and fish this week's Charleston Harbor Marina Billfish Tournament.

The Cerveza crew, homeported out of Pirates Cove, N.C., found the Charleston fishing to their liking and took the first-day lead, releasing both a blue marlin and a sailfish Thursday in the third tournament of the South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series.

Russell's father, Jim, 85, of Murrells Inlet, was the angler on the estimated 300-pound blue marlin, which was caught on 30-pound test line.

That fish earned the crew 600 points and the sailfish added another 100 points.

Two other boats, Billistic, owned by Hutch Hutchinson of Summerville, and Russellhatt, owned by Lee Russell, also had blue marlin and earned 600 points. Four boats had doubleheaders of sailfish, High Maintenance, Home Run, Houdini and Ultra.

Sixty-nine boats are fishing the event. There were three blue marlin, 16 sailfish and one white marlin released Thursday. First place in the tournament pays $20,000, but there also is approximately $385,000 at stake in the optional tournament levels.

Tom Russell praised the Charleston fishing. His crew practice fished Tuesday and went 6 for 10 on sailfish and had two blue marlin strikes. The boat is captained by Butch Davis and the mate is John Meade.

Russell said he didn't really expect to catch the fish on such light tackle but it worked out perfectly with the circle hook finishing up in the fish's jaw.

"We were fishing for sailfish and the fish came in and hit a little pink bait. But it's like the saying that elephants eat peanuts," said Russell, owner of the 62-foot Paul Spencer custom boat.

"The fish would come to the boat and run, come to the boat and run, come to the boat and run," said Jim Russell of the fight that lasted just over an hour.

In the non-billfish categories, worth $2,000 each, Parker Dempsey, aboard Short People, has the top dolphin with a 59.7-pound catch; Smyth McKissick, aboard Chasin, has the top wahoo at 50.4 pounds; and Justin Weathers, aboard Wahoolah, has the top tuna with a 12.3-pound catch.

The tournament continues through Saturday, with boats allowed to fish two of three days, captain's choice. Weigh-ins begin at 5 p.m. each day.

The remaining events in the Governor's Cup Billfishing Series are the HMY-Viking Megadock Billfishing Tournament, July 11-14 out of the Charleston City Marina, and the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament, July 25-28.