“The 6th Annual Barrier Island Beach Brawl was graced with beautiful sunny skies, 2- to 3-foot seas and a sweet northwest wind and those type of conditions had the bluefish on the bite big time,” said Nick Honachefsky in wrapping up his annual two-day surfcasting event on October 11 and 12.
“Over 400 bluefish were reported caught and though the tourney started out weighing in 2- to 3-pounders, some big choppers up to nearly 9 pounds took the top places as the day unfolded with an incoming tide chew,” Honachefsky said, adding that striper fishing during the two-day stretch was an early morning and nighttime affair with 16 stripers released during the Barrier Island Beach Brawl.
At the end of the event, surfcaster Ed Fliller took top honors for a bluefish just shy of 9 pounds, while top striped bass catch and release award went to Mike Garejewski. “Blackfish were thick off both the Barney and Squan inlet rocks, but anglers waded through a load of short fish to bring in seven tautog to the scales,” Honachefsky reported, with Rich Petrie taking top tautog of the event.
Local Classics
1 – Ed Fliller (bluefish, 8 pounds, 15 ounces)
2 – TIE, Cliff Horner/Dave McFadden (bluefish, 8 pound, 5 ounces)
3 – Steve Ciarlo (bluefish 8 pounds, 2 ounces)
Top Tog
1 – Rich Petrie (3 pounds 9 ounces)
Striped Bass
1 – Mike Garejewski
2 – Skip Boyle
3 – John Notaro
“There were no wildcard category fished weighed in for the first time as kingfish, triggerfish, bonito and croakers were ghost,” said Honachefsky, adding “It took 4 hours to fillet all the donated bluefish and blackfish as 140 blues were given to feed the homeless and hungry at the St. Gregory’s food pantry and the 50/50 raised $1300 for St. Jude’s Charity.”
For more information go to saltwaterunderground.com, or find Nick Honachefsky’s “Beach Talk” report from the surf in this week’s edition of The Fisherman.
