Sailfish Slam begins today

The format of the 2009 Sailfish Slam tournament hosted by the Charleston City Marina has changed. This is now a month-long competition that begins today, October 1. Fishing days are limited to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the winner of the Sailfish Slam to be determined by the boat that has the most sailfish releases over four days of fishing. ONLY four days of fishing will count towards any boat's total - so you have the flexibility to fish one day of a weekend over four weeks or you could conceivably get the job done by fishing one four-day-in-a-row stretch. Boats must declare in writing each day of fishing by 8 a.m. at the City Marina with McKenzie Estes. Robbie Freeman told anglers at the Captain's meeting that this is a 'fun' tournament and that passing of the rod on sailfish would be allowed - creating more opportunities to take youth and female anglers offshore. Each sailfish will receive 200 points score with an additional one point awarded for a sailfish that was tagged - contact Amy Dukes at SCDNR for sailfish tags. Each day of fishing will be followed by a weigh-in from 5 to 7:30 where meat fish can be weighed for additional prizes, plus any blue marlin 105 inches or better will be eligible for entry in the sailfish slam. Mea Culpa is one of the twenty teams entered that elected to start fishing today - and the Sailfish Slam will accept tournement entries all month long.