He’s the kind of man who exemplifies what it means to be great in this industry, all without an ounce of bravado. To know him, to hear his stories and to witness his enormous talent, is to closely know the bedrock of South Carolina’s sport fishing history and the caliber of fishermen it went on to produce.

Capt. Mike Glaesner of Graham Eubank’s Sportin’ Life has a long list of personal and professional accolades tied to his name, including husband, grandfather, mentor, and, of course, tournament winner. Since he caught his first blue marlin as a shaggy-headed teenager in the 1970s, he’s been featured in countless blogs, newspaper articles, and magazines, all of which share a central tone of reverence and admiration for him. This one will be no different.

The return of the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament coincided with some of the best blue marlin fishing South Carolina’s offshore fleet has ever seen, breaking several tournament and Series records. Sportin’ Life and the 32 other boats participating in the highly anticipated event released 80 fish, setting a new record for total number of billfish releases for the tournament. In addition, the fleet broke the Series record for number of blue marlin caught during a single leg. 52 blue marlin were released during the tournament, beating out the previous record of 46 blue marlin set by the 65 boats fishing the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament in 2021.

“I have been fortunate enough to fish off our coast since the 1970s,” says Glaesner. “In all my years, I have never seen a blue marlin bite quite like we did during Bohicket! We caught a slam on Friday, the first for me and our team. On Saturday, we saw eight blue marlin and had bites out of seven of them. We had two very memorable days of fishing!”

As lines went in the water on the last day of the tournament, Glaesner and Sportin’ Life were sitting in second place behind the Sweet Spot. “I knew we would need a quick start and to make our opportunities count,” says Glaesner. “But what happened in the first 20 minutes of fishing that day wasn’t what we had in mind.”

That morning wasn’t as smooth as usual for the Sportin’ Life crew. Glaesner, Graham Eubank, Gray Eubank, Peter Read, Dixon Pierce, Jimmy Lucas, Boyce Campsen, and Ellison Thomas are all regulars on the boat and have developed a solid rapport with each other on and off the water. But things just weren’t coming together as seamlessly as they often do for the competitive team.

“We were zero for three on blue marlins in the first 20 minutes of the day,” Glaesner recalls. “We missed two fish on the pitch bait and broke the line on a 400 to 500-pound blue marlin.”

In intense moments like this, the kind that are akin to the “quicksand” described by Keanu Reeves’ character in the film The Replacements, it can be tough to bounce back. However, the Sportin’ Life crew managed to pull out of it and take the lead.

“We caught a double header of blue marlin that made me feel more comfortable with our lead,” says Glaesner with relief. “Graham and Gray both did a fantastic job hooking and angling those two fish, even after the fish did a split and I couldn’t help them much with the boat. Meanwhile, the Trash Man was hot and coming on strong with several blue marlin bites. We had a couple other instances of bad luck with another blue early in the afternoon and saw another with 10 minutes left in the tournament, but we couldn’t get a bite out of it. I was definitely happy to see three o’clock come around when it finally did.”

As lines came out of the water and the crew had the opportunity to consider their win, a wave of relief and excitement swept through that Spencer build and her crew.

 “We just couldn’t believe how good the fishing was,” says Glaesner. “There were definitely a few beers downed on the ride home that day!”

 Once Glaesner had time to reflect on the tournament win and the excellent bite the fleet experienced, he couldn’t help but think back to the beloved patriarchs who helped pave the way for the Sportin’ Life program.

 “The Sportin’ Life program is very special to me,” says Glaesner. “I started fishing with the Eubank family in 1991. We are now on the third generation of Eubanks and it just keeps getting better. We have had much of the same crew for years. In the early days, we had several father and son combos on the boat – Graham and Manly Eubank, myself and my dad, Fred Glaesner, Frank and Ned Thornhill, and Cordes and Jimmy Lucas. Those were special years fishing with our fathers. I know the Sportin’ Life dads who have passed were with us in spirit during the tournament and helped us pull through to victory.”

While Manly Eubank, Fred Glaesner, and Ned Thornhill stood by in spirit, the generations of men currently fishing the boat during the tournament pushed through the challenges and frustrations as a team.

“We fish hard but we are really there to have fun,” says Glaesner. “We have good karma on the Sportin’ Life, which is so important. Our mates are phenomenal. Boyce Campsen has been with us for six or seven years now and we hired Capt. John Thomas’ son, Ellison Thomas, to fish with us as well. He has amazed me with how quickly he has developed into a hell of a mate. I just hope his dad doesn’t take him from me. Our crew deserves a ton of credit. Marlin fishing is a team sport, and we have a great team.”

You know fishing is good in South Carolina when the top 25 boats in a single tournament each release a minimum of 1 blue marlin. We saw a catch per unit effort of 2.5 fish per boat. Bohicket sure returned to this year’s Series with a bang, and so did the Sportin Life’!

Sportin’ Life clinched the win at the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish tournament with a total of 3,700 points for five blue marlin, 2 sailfish, and 1 white marlin. Trash Man took second place with 3,000 points after releasing 3 blue marlin and 6 sailfish. Syked Out finished in third place with 4 blue marlin and 1 spearfish, amounting to 2,700 points.

While we can’t directly link last weekend’s record-breaking catch to conservation efforts, we like to think that decades of collaborative research and marine resources management, as well as the angling community’s adoption of best fishing practices and a conservation ethic, all helped make such quality fishing possible.

As the Series celebrates its 35 years of conservation this summer, the exceptional fishing and 100% release rate at the Bohicket Marina Invitational Billfish Tournament made for a fitting start to the competitive season.

Next, we’ll head to the 55th Annual Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament this Memorial Day Weekend!