The results of the first Fred Golofaro South Shore Classic surf tournament are in the books. I say “first” due to the fact that this is the first year, in collaboration with New York State Parks that we have renamed the South Shore Classic surf fishing tournament in honor of the late Fred Golofaro. Fred was instrumental to creating and coordinating this tournament, along with the Montauk Classic. It was only right that both events were renamed in honor of him and all he did to ensure they kept going forward. The discussion was very brief about renaming the event—we were all in agreement on the matter.
The event itself was fishing business as usual. First and foremost, I want to give a big thanks to all the prize sponsors that helped make this tournament what it is. First place for the striper slot division was a $750 check provided by the state and Captree Bait and Tackle. First prize for the catch and release striper division was a VSX2 250 spinning reel donated by Craig from Pure Fishing. This top of the line surf reel is based off the original proven Van Staal design—a really sweet first place prize. Second place for the C&R division was a pair of Visser pliers donated by Rob from Visser which would be a great addition to any casters arsenal. Third prize was a small surf bag from Simms fishing. For the additional slot prize a St. Croix Avid surf rod was a second place prize donated by St. Croix and third place prize was another large Simms bag donated by Simms that I actually have myself and am a big fan of. Captree Bait and Tackle donated an assortment of tackle for the raffle at the end of the event. A local company, Turtle Cove Tackle was also generous with their donation of surfcasting accessories that fill the needs of surfcasters here on the island. A few St. Croix surf rods rounded out the raffles. Another big thanks goes out to them for their generosity.
The fishing itself was decent. A good number of slot stripers came up filling in the slot striper category. The catch and release striper category got filled up also and all the fish were over 40 inches with a 45-incher taking first place. The one category that didn’t see any action was bluefish. Unfortunately none were present on the South Shore of the island during contest. Over on the North Shore of the island it’s a different story where they were catching gators up to 18 pounds. It would have been very interesting if those blues were mixed in with the stripers on the South Shore.
The contest results themselves are the following: For the striper slot division Frank Mercurio took first with a 15.5-pounder; second was Michael Roveto with a 14.80; third place went to Henry Montegudi with his 14.62. For the catch and release striper division Ruben Fournier placed first with a 45-incher; Nelson Feliz grabbed second with a 43-incher and Jennifer Feliz took third with her 40-inch striper.
Thanks again to State Parks, Captree Bait and Tackle, donation sponsors and all the participants for making this event possible. We’re looking to the 2023 tournament.
