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Hooking Up Anglers Since 2011.
As everyone else along the East Coast braced in fear of Hurricane Irene a week ago, there were a few anglers secretly cheering on its arrival. Those were the few entrants in the lead for big money prizes in the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 Tournament at Cape May and the satellite port of Ocean City, Md. The order to evacuate those vulnerable...
As everyone else along the East Coast braced in fear of Hurricane Irene a week ago, there were a few anglers secretly cheering on its arrival. Those were the few entrants in the lead for big money prizes in the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 Tournament at Cape May and the satellite port of Ocean City, Md.
The order to evacuate those vulnerable areas resulted in cancellation of the last day’s fishing, which most of the 117 boats fishing for shares of a $1,539,130 purse were planning on utilizing as one of their three-out-of-five tournament fishing days.
That worked out especially well for Elizabeth’s Steven Scioscia aboard his Tail Spin, skippered by Capt. Dennis Glynn of Wall, as he was leading the blue marlin category with a 565-pounder that was worth $193,440. Damien Romeo of Forked River, on Hubris, finished in second place with his 498-pounder and won $121,894. Ocean City, Md.’s Dan Burt, aboard Pumpin’ Hard 66, took third place with a 494-pound blue marlin and received $73,749.
That leaves me as still the only Mid-Atlantic $500,000 angler who weighed a blue marlin more than 500 pounds that didn’t win a penny. Along with a blue marlin release, the Dinardi’s won the Blue Marlin Points Trophy that year with the blue I boated on their Ab-Solutely from Brielle Yacht Club — but even bigger blues knocked mine back to fourth.
It was the calm before the storm for the 49 boats that headed offshore on Aug. 25 on Day Four, as cloudy skies broke clear by late morning and seas were relatively calm. As in previous years, what turned out to be the final day of the event saw significant changes on the leaderboard.
The white marlin division witnessed the most dramatic change as Sylvan Cote of Cranberry, Conn., aboard Espadon, moved into second place in the category after weighing a 76-pounder on Day Four and held on to win $104,437. Steve Ramsey of Ocean City, Md., aboard Lady Luck, with his 82-pound white marlin caught on Day Three, won the Heaviest White Marlin award and received the big prize of $615,484. Chuck Arnold of Virginia Beach, Va. aboard Big Dog and Richard Hendrickson of Cinnaminson aboard Sailmaker finished in a tie for third place as each weighed white marlin of 75 pounds. Since Arnold was in all of the Calcuttas, he received $53,902 in total prize money and Hendrickson received $11,700 in tournament proceeds as he was not in any of the optional Calcuttas.
Adam Demeusy of Bloomfield, Conn., winner of the Heaviest Tuna category in 2010, repeated the feat this year. His 148-pound big eye tuna caught aboard Impulse V was worth $161,893. Nick and Trish Rodriguez of Dover, Del., on their Par Five finished in second place with a 71-pound yellowfin tuna and received $82,251. Tuckerton’s Tom Jarvis aboard his Dumb and Dumber finished in third place with a 63-pound yellowfin which earned him $69,069.
Riviera Beach, Fla.’s Byron Russell, aboard his Hit ‘N Run, weighed a 53-pounder dolphin on Day Four to win the category and received $9,360. Dave Migliore of Brielle, aboard Blackbeard’s Revenge, won the wahoo division with a 50-pounder and received $9,360.
The following received Calcutta money for various positions on the leaderboard during the week though they did not receive tournament proceeds:
Amarula Sun – Raymond Craig – Holiday, Florida – 72 lb. white marlin - $8,146. Inappropriate – Frank Holtham – Hackensack – 69 lb. white marlin - $16,292. Trust Me Too – Jim Foulke – Bluffton, South Carolina – 58 lb. tuna - $8,146
Final Point Standings White Marlin Most Points – Predator – Bryan Kieth – Selbyville, Delaware – 1650 pts. 2nd Most Points – Par Five – Nick and Trish Rodriguez – Dover, Delaware - 1050 pts. 3rd Most Points – Billfisher – Bill Zimmerman – Ocean City, Maryland – 1050 pts.
Blue Marlin Most Points – Lisa K – Ernest Audet – Lincoln, Rhode Island – 300 pts. 2nd Most Points – Tail Spin – Steve Scioscia – Elizabeth – 282.5 pts. 3rd Most Points – Hubris – Damien Romeo – Forked River – 249 pts.
Tuna Most Points – Crush ‘Em – John Ruskey – Baltimore, Maryland – 80.5 pts. 2nd Most Points – Impulse V – Adam Demeusy – Bloomfield, Connecticut – 74 pts. 3rd Most Points – Trust Me Too – Jim Foulke – Doylestown, Pennsylvania – 55.5 pts. Most Points Overall – Predator – Bryan Keith – Selbyville, Delaware – 1650 pts.
Note: Point ties were broken based on time of catch.
Catch Report White Marlin Released – 442 White Marlin Boated – 16 Blue Marlin Released – 17 Blue Marlin Boated – 4 Tuna Weighed – 23 Dolphin Weighed – 6 Wahoo Weighed – 2 Longbill Spearfish Released – 1 Total Billfish Caught – 480 Total Billfish Released – 460
Even with the event shortened by a full fishing day, the billfish catch was impressive as a combined 480 white marlin, blue marlin and longbill spearfish were caught by the 117 participating boats and 460 were set free for a release rate of nearly 96 percent. The average of 1.36 billfish per-boat-per-day also falls just short of the tournament record 1.42 billfish per-boat-per-day set in 2010.
Though we generally got by Hurricane Irene with minimal damage, the state has closed both commercial and recreational shellfishing until further notice due to the storm run-off.
While fluke fishing has been slow to come back since Irene, the storm seemed to spur an early arrival of striped bass. I joined Capt. Lou Grazioso of Striper Mania yesterday on Chuck Many’s Tyman from Gateway Marina in Highlands as we drifted sandworms in Raritan Bay with Tank Matraxia and Rob DeYoung from Lyndhurst, and Dennis Tarnowski of Byram.
That fishing started slowly, and we tried fluking in Ambrose Channel that produced only a single sea robin. However, once the ebb tide started running hard enough to overcome the southeast breeze, school stripers turned on. Matraxia put American Littoral Society tags in 20 stripers up to 26 inches fork length (as the ALS measures them) and two small fluke, while a few other bass were also released and two were large enough to retain — topped by Matraxia’s 31-incher. Only a couple of pound-size porgies were caught, but two surprise releases were a legal-size blackfish and a lizardfish. My smallest bass was the most interesting, as that 19 3/4-inch fork length striper carried a Hudson River Foundation tag that was swapped for a new ALS tag.
Surf pro Paul Haertel also enjoys running his boat to deepwater wrecks off Long Beach Island. Despite the bottom churning from the hurricane, he took a shot only to find the first wreck fishless in dirty green waters with temperatures down to 68 to72 degrees. Pressing further offshore, he worked wrecks that didn’t hold much life – but did have some quality fish. He boated pollock of 28.9 and 31.9 pounds, and a friend hooked a 35.15-pounder. Another friend caught three cod from 6 to 10 pounds.
Bob Correll of Bay Head ran his 20-foot Boston Whaler out to the Mud Hole yesterday morning to find only green waters. There were floating trees out there, but they harbored none of the desired dolphin. He fished during the afternoon with Joe Reap of Ramsey on his Reaper from Manasquan, and finally caught his first keeper fluke of the season, a 23-incher at Manasquan Ridge where Reap also had a keeper after they had fished the Axel Carlsen Reef with no luck.
The 20th annual Governor’s Surf Fishing Tournament will be held at Island Beach State Park on Sunday, Oct. 2. The early entry fee is $10 for adults over 18, $5 for ages 13 to 17, and free for kids 12 and under if postmarked by Sept. 10.Visit www.njfishandwildlife.com for information.
The N.J. Beach Buggy Association Kid’s Tournament will be held Saturday Sept. 10 at Pavillion 1 in Island Beach State Park.There are divisions for youngsters 13-16, 9-12, and 8 or under. The free contest includes t-shirts and a hot fog lunch, plus awards and grab bags. For information visit njbba.org (click charitable events), orcall Tim Burden at 732 279-3177. The Hudson River Fishermen’s Association 10th annual Surf Fishing Tournament will be held in Seaside Park and Seaside Heights on Saturday, Oct. 15. For information visit www.hrfa.us (follow the tournament link), or call Paul Hartmann at 201 481-4390.
This Fishing Report was submitted on 9/2/2011 5:58:01 PM by Seamus and last updated on 9/2/2011 5:58:01 PM.
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