Petrel jumps into MegaDock lead

Petrel, which won the 2005 MegaDock Billfishing Tournament, is in position to do so again. The boat owned by Harry Johnson and captained by Thomas Wynne, jumped into first place Friday, releasing a blue marlin and two sailfish.

Petrel had the first billfish of the day, a sailfish release at 8:16 a.m., added another sailfish release at 10:19 a.m., then capped the day with a blue marlin release at 2:02 p.m.

That gave the Petrel crew 1,000 points heading into today's final day of fishing, but it's a tenuous lead. Seven boats are tied with 600 points each, although Cerveza is technically the leader for the second position by virtue of having reached its total first, releasing its third sailfish at 12:52 p.m. Thursday.

Also at 600 points, in order of time are Mutts and Jeff (blue marlin), Micabe (three sailfish), Big Sky (blue marlin), Full Pull (three sailfish), Caramba (three sailfish) and NOFA (three sailfish).

The participants released 21 sailfish and two blue marlin Friday. Big Sky had the other blue marlin release at 8:30 a.m.

First place, based on points, pays $20,000. Second pays $5,000, and the non-billfish categories pay $2,000 each. The tournament's total purse, including optional tournament within a tournament levels, totals 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.

The non-billfish leaders: Billy Ford, fishing aboard Palmetto Pride, has the top wahoo at 72.2 pounds; Jason Zachrich, aboard Reel Patience, has the top dolphin, 43.5 pounds; and Mark Daniels, aboard Daymaker, has the top tuna at 17.6 pounds.

Today's weigh-in runs from 5-7:30 p.m. at the City Marina.

Reach Tommy Braswell at braswell@postandcourier.com.