Game On wins Charleston

[JABIII]

Game On steals thunder
By Tommy Braswell (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, July 1, 2007


Lexington boat reels in lone billfish on Saturday

MOUNT PLEASANT — Game On, owned by Sea Hunt Boats of Lexington, managed to steal some of Cerveza's thunder in the Charleston Harbor Marina Billfish Tournament Saturday, boating a 550.6-pound blue marlin.

Buster Roof was the angler on the only billfish that was brought to the dock in the tournament, and that fish earned the Game On crew $124,800 from the optional tournament levels.

Game On, a 55-foot Hatteras, was the overall champion of the 2004 South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series. Game On released a blue marlin in the opening event of this year's Governor's Cup at Edisto Marina but did not score in the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament.

Roof said the big-money fish hit an artificial lure and was hooked near the Georgetown Hole. It took approximately an hour to land the fish.

"She ran off a bunch of line, but I never really saw the fish," Roof said. "It jumped but never really cleared the water so we never knew how big it was until we got it to the boat."

Cerveza, owned by Tom Russell of Reston, Va., had already used its two allotted fishing days and hung on for the overall title with 1,000 points for releasing a blue marlin and four sailfish. Cerveza earned the tournament's top prize of $20,000 and an additional $65,017.92 through optional tournament levels.

Juncanewt, owned by John Cagle of Sullivan's Island, also had used its allotted fishing time and finished second with 700 points for a blue marlin and sailfish release and earned $10,000.

Russellhatt, owned by Lee Russell, was one of four boats that finished with 600 points for blue marlin releases but took third place and $5,000 based on reaching its point total first.

The non-billfish winners were Ben Polk with a 63.0-pound dolphin caught aboard Special Lady; Stokely Holder with a 77.9-pound tuna caught aboard Miss Wy IV; and Richard Sear with a 61.6-pound dolphin caught aboard My Three Sons. Those fish were worth $2,000 each.

Sue Hardenburger was the top lady angler with a sailfish release, while James Johnson aboard Petrel, with a sailfish release, and Bradley Clifton, aboard YoYo with a 59.0-pound dolphin, were recognized as the top youth anglers. Cerverza won the conservation award and Roof was the tournament's outstanding angler.

The remaining events in the 2007 Governor's Cup Billfishing Series are the HMY-Viking Megadock BillfishingTournament, July 11-14 out of the Charleston City Marina, and the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament, July 25-28.

--The tournament announced at the awards ceremony that it was donating $2,500 to the fund for the nine Charleston firefighters killed recently, and the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina matched that amount.

[Catdaddy]

SC Ducks member and Flyway Foundation member jw was first mate on the boat.

[murraywader]

too bad Cerveza will be in Ocean City instead of Megadock

[blandinghole]

Originally posted by JABIII:
Game On steals thunder
By Tommy Braswell (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, July 1, 2007


Lexington boat reels in lone billfish on Saturday

MOUNT PLEASANT — Game On, owned by Sea Hunt Boats of Lexington, managed to steal some of Cerveza's thunder in the Charleston Harbor Marina Billfish Tournament Saturday, boating a 550.6-pound blue marlin.

Buster Roof was the angler on the only billfish that was brought to the dock in the tournament, and that fish earned the Game On crew $124,800 from the optional tournament levels.

Game On, a 55-foot Hatteras, was the overall champion of the 2004 South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series. Game On released a blue marlin in the opening event of this year's Governor's Cup at Edisto Marina but did not score in the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament.

Roof said the big-money fish hit an artificial lure and was hooked near the Georgetown Hole. It took approximately an hour to land the fish.

"She ran off a bunch of line, but I never really saw the fish," Roof said. "It jumped but never really cleared the water so we never knew how big it was until we got it to the boat."

Cerveza, owned by Tom Russell of Reston, Va., had already used its two allotted fishing days and hung on for the overall title with 1,000 points for releasing a blue marlin and four sailfish. Cerveza earned the tournament's top prize of $20,000 and an additional $65,017.92 through optional tournament levels.

Juncanewt, owned by John Cagle of Sullivan's Island, also had used its allotted fishing time and finished second with 700 points for a blue marlin and sailfish release and earned $10,000.

Russellhatt, owned by Lee Russell, was one of four boats that finished with 600 points for blue marlin releases but took third place and $5,000 based on reaching its point total first.

The non-billfish winners were Ben Polk with a 63.0-pound dolphin caught aboard Special Lady; Stokely Holder with a 77.9-pound tuna caught aboard Miss Wy IV; and Richard Sear with a 61.6-pound dolphin caught aboard My Three Sons. Those fish were worth $2,000 each.

Sue Hardenburger was the top lady angler with a sailfish release, while James Johnson aboard Petrel, with a sailfish release, and Bradley Clifton, aboard YoYo with a 59.0-pound dolphin, were recognized as the top youth anglers. Cerverza won the conservation award and Roof was the tournament's outstanding angler.

The remaining events in the 2007 Governor's Cup Billfishing Series are the HMY-Viking Megadock BillfishingTournament, July 11-14 out of the Charleston City Marina, and the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament, July 25-28.

--The tournament announced at the awards ceremony that it was donating $2,500 to the fund for the nine Charleston firefighters killed recently, and the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina matched that amount.

Did that boat hit the rocks july 4th? Does anyone know anything about that?