Cerveza hangs on for repeat at MegaDock

Cerveza owner Tom Russell of Reston, Va., said he and his crew really like Charleston, and no wonder after the 62-foot Paul Spencer custom sportfishing boat claimed its second straight win in the South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series.

Cerveza doubled its sailfish count with three more releases Saturday to squeak past Petrel and win the MegaDock Billfish Tournament fished out of the Charleston City Marina. Cerveza, which is homeported at Pirate's Cove, N.C., and captained by Butch Davis, finished with 1,200 points and earned a total of $144,974 from the tournament. The total included the tournament's first prize of $20,000, $113,382.50 from the optional tournament levels, the Saturday tuna award of $5,725 and $5,860 for the lady angler release award. Russell's 13-year-old daughter Nicole released five of the crew's six sailfish and was the top youth angler.

Petrel, which won the 2005 MegaDock Tournament, was one of several boats with 1,000 points, but finished second based on reaching that figure earliest. The 52-foot Omie Tillet custom boat owned by Harry Johnson of Charleston released a blue marlin estimated at more than 500 pounds along with two sailfish on Friday and had a blue marlin hooked Saturday, but lost the estimated the 300-pound fish around 2:15 p.m. when the leader broke. Petrel, captained by Thomas Wynne, earned $5,000 for its second-place finish and another $27,930 from the optional tournament levels.

The non-billfish winners earned $2,000 each. Billy Ford, aboard Palmetto Pride, had the top wahoo at 72.7 pounds. Mark Daniels, aboard Daymaker, had the top tuna at 16.3 pounds. Jason Zachrich, aboard Reel Patience, won the dolphin award with a 43.5-pound catch.

The Cerveza crew also included Russell's son Matthew, his father Jim, Tommy Boger, Greg Boger, Steve Schmeusser, Beau Schmeusser, Hunter Schmeusser and Jon Meade.

"This was another exciting tournament, right down to the wire," Russell said. "There were three or four boats with 800 or 1,000 points and it went down to whether we could get another bite. We missed a couple of fish and got our third fish at 2:38 p.m. (cutoff time is 3 p.m.). We had another one on right after that that would have made things a little more comfortable."

Cerveza won the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina Billfish Tournament with 11 sailfish releases two weeks ago, its second straight victory in that event, and plans to stick around and complete the Governor's Cup with the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament July 24-26.

"Last year we regretted not being able to fish that tournament, but we had other commitments," Russell said. "The fishing has been great here. We might come back in the fall for the sailfish tournament."

Reach Tommy Braswell at braswell@postandcourier.com.