High fuel costs don't stall boat entries

Gun the throttle. Chase the fish. Watch you wallet go empty.

The fuel crisis isn't just affecting the highways. The big boats — the really big ones — chasing billfish out of Charleston this weekend are sucking fuel pumps dry and ringing up thousands of dollars in debt daily on their captains' credit cards.

Boat diesel at more than $5 a gallon to fill 2,000-gallon tanks? Burning hundreds of gallons or more daily on the chance you might land something bigger than a bluefish?

For that kind of money why not buy a pound of supermarket tuna ($8.99) and stay home?

Still, the high price of boat diesel doesn't seem to be affecting turnout for the South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series, where an overflow number of 80 boats registered this year at the Charleston City Marina's MegaDock.

"It seems a lot of the tournaments are losing boats, while we are still gaining them," said dock master David Isom, who added that the marina is cutting tourney participants a break on fuel. The per-gallon price is $5.04, which is about 12 cents below the norm, Isom said.

Talk to any of the fishermen and they'll quickly concede it's near-crazy to keep racking up their level of gas debt. But overriding the monthly credit card bill is a love for fishing that's like an intoxicant, even when they come up fishless for the day.

Some say it's like gambling, and the drive is to catch the big payoff fish. "We don't 'fun-fish,' " anymore, said John Lancaster, owner of a 68-footer out of North Carolina.

The tournament's total purse, including optional tournament-within-a-tournament levels, is more than $550,000, and there is a $1 million entry category for a boat breaking the South Carolina blue marlin record of 881.8 pounds.

Greg Smith of Blue Sky, a 56-foot Viking, said most fishermen are accepting of the fact that the high cost of gas is just part of spending their entertainment budget dollar.

"We've got a lot invested," he said, "so we have to stand our ground." Sport fishing costs begin as soon as the boat key turns over. All the vessels here are between 29 feet and 72 feet long, none of which are trailerable and must burn hundreds of gallons just getting here. Then there's the 50-mile sprint to the Gulf Stream.

The story here is different from other tournaments. Several participants said that they are doing the Charleston event but that gas prices are preventing them from taking part in as many other events as they would have last year.

A lot of the long-distance travelers have cut down on going to places like the Bahamas, Smith added, where he's heard the per-gallon diesel cost is up to $6 or $7 a gallon.

Others say that if you can afford boats like these, gas isn't a big deal anyway.

Elsewhere, the lure of fishing versus the cost of fuel doesn't seem to be affecting other anglers.

Zed White of Lowcountry Anglers said the group recently held one of its most successful inshore fishing tournaments ever. The 13th annual Lowcountry Open drew 290 entrants a couple of weeks ago, he said.

Still, he sees what the bigger vessels are paying at the pump.

"I'm just glad I got a little boat," he said.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551 or skropf@postandcourier.com.