The Annual Jamaica Bay Tournament is in the books.  It was another successful event.  We had to use the rain date because of a small craft advisory on Saturday. So the actual competition was held May 16^th. It was the 7^th year and participation has continually grown. In the first year we had 52 participants and this year 334! Proceeds went to Casting for Recovery.

Competitors started arriving Thursday to camp out. There were over 100 campers the first night and it increased significantly Friday. Friday night was the captain’s meeting and there were sub sandwiches. After the awards there was a nice Italian buffet. As usual there were variable conditions. We had some rain one night and wind. There weren’t any conditions where one couldn’t fish and both nights some very nice bass fishing occurred.

Last year was the year of the weakfish. They made a very impressive appearance with several dozen big tide runners being caught. This year was the antithesis as not one weak was caught. Things were running late in the bay and they hadn’t arrived in time for the competition. Hopefully next year we’ll have a run of them as they are such beautiful fish and very much welcomed.  Since there weren’t any weaks there weren’t any slams. Here are the results.

OPEN DIVISION                            NAME                                   HOMETOWN

1^ST 38 ½” Bass                           Mark Nelson                          West Boylston, MA

2^nd 36 ½” Bass                           Tom Lowe                               Central Islip, NY

3^rd 35”     Bass                           Robert Simeone                        Morganville, NJ

FLY DIVISION

1^st 26”     Bass                           Kurt Schwartz                    Brooklyn, NY

1^st 26”     Blue                           John Walsh                         Amston, CT

2^nd 24”     Bass                           David Abodeely                 Queensbury, NY

3^rd 22 ½” Bass                           Jose Colon                          Irvington, NY

WOMENS DIVISION

1^st 29”     Bass                           Suzanne Collins                 Remesenburg, NY

2^nd 27 ½” Blue                           Lee Dascole                        Lindenhurst, NY

3^rd 24”     Bass                           Judy Seger                          Allenhurst, NJ

New this year was a couple lure company categories.  Whoever caught the biggest fish on that companies lures won a separate prize. Guides Choice Lures winner was Bob ‘Mullet’ Miller from Chesapeake City, MD. His winning 28” bluefish got him $500 worth of Guide Choice Lures along with a rod and t-shirt. Tom Lowe, from Central Islip, NY won the Carl’s Tubes contest with a 36 ½” striper and got a bunch of tubes.  The Wolfpack, a group of kayak anglers from the area, does a raffle each year. Entries for the raffle are one lure and $5. The winner keeps the lures and Casting for Recovery the cash. They rose over $700. That means Frank Pawlowski of Bayonne, NJ was the winner ended up with over 140 lures! Also everyone who enters the tournament is eligible for raffle prizes which consist of an array of gear, kayak and fishing related items. The hot goods are the kayaks. Wayne Collins (Lake Grove, NY) won a Hobie Pro Angler, Bill Becker (Fort Lee, NJ) an Ocean Kayak Trident 13, Mike Reier Glen (Arm, MD) a Heritage Featherlite 9.5, John Karl (Staten Island, NY) a Moken Kayak with an electric motor system from Bassyaks, and Juan Villegas (Nutley, NJ) an Emotion CFR Glide. It was another great event.