The first of two fall surf fishing tournaments that The Fisherman Magazine helps sponsor is now in the books. The end of September, going into October, saw the three-day Fred Golofaro Memorial Montauk Classic. This event has been a tradition for years and was once hosted by the late Fred Golofaro.
The format of the tournament this year continued the changes to the striper category. The decision was made to get rid of the striper slot portion of it and go with a length catch and release division instead. We also got rid of the striper weigh and release division. The reason is that with the further shrinking of the striper slot from 28 to 35 to 28 to 31 inches, I just didn’t see it feasible to host a tournament where casters were fishing on a 3-inch slot limit to weigh fish in. Aside from that, I did want to bring the big fish back into the event, and the only way to do so, in my eyes, and to keep it as legit as possible was to use a length, tag, and measure system with a photo as documented proof. Tournament tags and rulers were provided by the state at the signup. The bluefish category was kept the same as a weigh-in. Photo evidence of the fish caught was also submitted to the Montauk Anglers Club which is now the new official weigh station for the event. Shoutout goes to Will and Chris who ran the store during the duration of the event and took in the submissions, making it run as smoothly as possible. It should also be noted that no text or email submissions were allowed.
With all of the easterlies, it made the fishing tough for some along the Montauk terrain but for those who stuck at it, they were able to have a shot at a few of the big fish as they made their way in from the rips and came within striking distance for surf fishermen. Some impressive stripers took the top couple of spots on the striper side of the board!
The board itself was mostly filled out, with the exception of all of those bluefish spots – where are they this fall and will they make a showing this October? A familiar name to these tournaments, Frank Mercurio took the top striper spot this year with a 46-1/2-inch striper, followed by Mike Pedone with his 44-1/2-inch fish and Jeffrey Krist with his 32-3/4-incher Ironically Gary Krist took third with a 34-incher last year. Keep in mind, and I tell angers every year, don’t throw back that 5- pound bluefish! I heard rumors that fish of this size were thrown back and in reality this measly 5-pounder would have netted them a $1000 if they brought it to the scale since no others were entered! Again, this year, the Golofaro family was present for the awards ceremony and presented the striper category winner, Frank, with a plaque for his catch and release conservation practices and the win.
I wanted to give an extra shout-out to the state for helping put this together and Montauk Anglers Club for stepping up and being the official tournament entry station and staying open for extended hours to help make this event possible. The next event, the Fred Golofaro Memorial South Shore Classic, will be taking place at the end of this month from October 25 through 27 and will be hosted by Captree Bait and Tackle. Hope to see you there.
