Welcome back to The Teaser, the official blog series of the South Carolina Governor’s Cup. Staff are busy preparing for the start of this summer’s tournament season, and we can’t wait to reunite with our Gov Cup family in just a few short weeks.

This year marks the Gov Cup’s 35th anniversary! To celebrate those many years of sport fishing excellence, as well as to honor the memory of our founder, Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr., we will be focusing on the many conservation achievements made possible by our partners, sponsors, and participants.

Through our swag, including this year’s limited edition performance shirt, and social media, the Gov Cup will pay tribute to our community’s dedication to the conservation of billfish and other pelagic species found off the coast of South Carolina. You’ve made so much possible in our 35 years of competition, camaraderie, and conservation.

This year’s Series is comprised of four tournament legs hosted in beloved locations along South Carolina’s coast. We’re excited to welcome back the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament following several years of marina construction. We also look forward to the 55th Annual Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament, the Carolina Billfish Classic, and the Edisto Invitational Billfish Tournament.

Beginning with the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament (May 10-13, 2023), competitors will accumulate points for their catch at each event, eventually leading to an overall Series winner. Based on past years, 99% of billfish caught during Series events are released. We can’t wait to see which team will rack up the most points and take the win later this year!

One person competing for this year’s title has been fishing the Gov Cup for 19 consecutive years, and will be walking into the 2023 Series with an entirely new role. Just a few months ago, Mr. Stokely Holder was elected to the Gov Cup’s greatest leadership position as the Chairman of our Advisory Board of Directors.

Holder will fish this summer aboard Miss Wy, the 53-ft Ricky Scarborough owned by his father, Ed Holder. Miss Wy is a well-known program here in South Carolina, North Carolina, and the Bahamas. In addition, the family has a longstanding relationship with the Series. In fact, Holder’s father has also served as a Chairman of the Gov Cup’s Advisory Board of Directors. Fishing truly is a family affair for them.

“I’ve been fortunate to enjoy many awesome moments fishing in the Governor’s Cup Series,” says Holder. “We’re a family operation with Capt. Matt Wilkinson at the helm, so every tournament we fish is alongside family and friends. It’s cliche but true that every day on the water is a great one. We’ve been blessed with some spectacular days, whether there is a trophy to show for it or not.”

The family has done well in past years, with several top ten finishes and a second place win in 2015. Holder has had many great experiences on the water, but one day that same year is one of his favorite fishing memories. “The one that sticks out amongst them all is the final day of the 2015 Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament,” recalls Holder. “We caught 3 blues to win the tournament. That was a really special day for us!”

Georgetown Landing Marina, one of the most important sites in South Carolina’s offshore sport fishing history, is Miss Wy’s homeport. As a result, a tournament win there comes with even greater rewards for the Holder family. It’s always nice to win at home, especially when surrounded by family and friends. “What I enjoy most about fishing the Gov Cup is that I get to spend time with so many fantastic people and true sportsmen/women,” says Holder. “It’s great to be on the docks and catch up with the likes of a Capt. Mike Glaesner or get to talk with the great team of DNR biologists or meet a newcomer to the tournaments. The camaraderie and fun is contagious, and getting to go fishing on top of it all is hard to beat.”

As staff, that dockside camaraderie is one of our favorite aspects of the Gov Cup as well. While folks reunite and make memories year after year during Series events, they remain fiercely competitive. South Carolina is home to stellar fishermen, and they play to win. “The competition is always a challenge,” says Holder. “There are so many extremely talented captains and crews. It is not easy, especially when you’re fishing alongside the generational greats like Mike Glaesner, Bobby Garmany, and Jim Johnston or the younger acclaimed captains like Chucky Moore, Harvey Shiflet, Jay Weaver, Mark Rogers, Bennett Griffin, Alan Neiford, and Grant Bentley or the very well respected and rising talents like Ryan Riggs, Phillip Fender and Cordes Lucas, along with a long list of other really, really good captains and crews.”

And fishing in South Carolina comes with other challenges as well, the kind that aren’t for the faint of heart. “Besides fishing competition, the weather can present some challenges, particularly when a relatively long run offshore gets even longer because of where the fish are biting,” explains Holder. “But, it’s all worth it, win or lose, because we have a great fishery.”

That fishery once appeared to be at risk. Prior to establishing the Series in 1989, Governor Campbell expressed his concerns about the health of billfish stocks off South Carolina. An avid offshore angler himself, he feared that the numbers of billfish hitting the docks would have lasting impacts for future generations. In partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, he set out to encourage conservation through sportsmanship, a legacy South Carolinians like Holder are proud to carry on.

“We are all so fortunate to not only enjoy the fun of fishing together in competitive tournament settings, but also to contribute at the same time to the incredible work that our state’s marine biologists do to capture data about our pelagic species,” says Holder. “The body of work over the past 35 years since Governor Campbell started the Series speaks for itself – from the leadership of our DNR Boards, to the day-to-day hard work of Amy Dukes and her staff of marine biologists, to the oversight of DNR Officer Willie Ladue and his team, and to the generous support of the fishing teams and sponsors. Our generation, together with the ones who came before us and those that will follow, have been, and will continue to be, benefactors of the consistent and substantial efforts we have all undertaken to sustain and grow our fishery.”

All of us at the Gov Cup feel so lucky to witness and facilitate your commitment to the conservation of billfish species and other natural resources. Through your donations to the South Carolina Memorial Reef, your willingness to participate in data collection efforts, and your continued catch and release practices, you’ve paved the way to the fishery we have today and the fishery your children will have tomorrow.

“As the history of the Series evidences, a sound policy built on common sense, real-time data from our incredibly talented captains, crews and marine biologists will continue to dictate the success of the Series and our mission,” says Holder. “The challenge for our generation of sportsmen/women is to continue to carry the baton forward in the same positive direction.”

Let’s all rise to the challenge and carry that baton!

Click here for more information about the upcoming 2023 Series.

Thank you to all of our sponsors and partners for making another year possible. And, of course, immense thanks go to the individual tournament directors and their incredible teams we get to work with year after year. We appreciate your partnership as we work to build a bigger and better Series moving ahead.

Cheers to 35 years! We’ll see you on the water soon.

 The Teaser is a series dedicated to showcasing the stories of the Governor’s Cup Billfishing Series and its lively community. The Gov Cup was created several decades ago to encourage the conservation of ocean resources through the tagging and release of billfish. Learn more here.