A look at the leaderboard entering the second half of our “members only” competition.
With the race for the MLB playoffs now taking shape – and NFL summer training camps officially underway – we’re also approaching the half-way point of another Dream Boat Fishing Challenge season, with several subscribers to The Fisherman in particular jockeying for position in the quest for a new Steiger Craft 23’ Chatham center console with all of the accoutrements (Yamaha 250hp outboard, Hummingbird XPLORE 10 CMSI+ Fish Finder, Minn Kota Riptide Terrova Quest, Oversea Starter Bundle, SeaDek Marine Flooring, Seakeeper Ride 450 installed by Atlantic Stabilizers and 36v Solid State Marine Battery) all totaling $142,914.97.
So for our half-time report as of July 10, 2026, let’s look back at a scoring summary since the Dream Boat Fishing Challenge kickoff on May 1.
Checking Off Boxes
The first entry to hit our inbox was a 2.2-pound sea robin for Long Island edition subscriber Fred Ledermann on May 2, who appropriately enough was the leader man in this year’s contest for roughly a week. That was until fellow Long Islander Paul Albarano weighed in his 2.6-pound bird at the same shop, East End Bait & Tackle, roughly a week later. New Jersey subscriber Michael Wenstrom soon took top slot in the bluefish category with a 13.47-pound gator weighed in at Allen’s Dock during a rather quick spring run of the blues.
By week three, Wenstrom was still atop the bluefish division while Long Islanders Bryan Zembreski (2.28 pounds) and Frank Peritore (2.84 pounds) were registering sea robins respectively at Chasing Tails and J&J Sports in Patchogue. But then heading into the Memorial Day weekend, fresh species and new registrants began to appear, with New Jersey’s Amir Rajpaul weighing in a 2.35-pound porgy at Wego Bait & Tackle, and Tyrone Thompson from New Castle, DE also taking the Long Island Expressway towards a 2.37-pound scup weighed in at Smith’s Bait Shop.
The season’s first weakfish entry landed Long Island subscriber Mark Borucke on the board with a 7.1-pouder weighed in at East End Bait & Tackle on May 23. The only other weakie on the leaderboard today belongs to Justin Cassar of Ridge, NY with a 6.75-pounder weighed in at Wego Bait & Tackle in mid-June. With eight of the 10 slots still empty and a minimum entry weight of 5 pounds, it’s still a wide open category heading into the second half of play.
In the porgy division, New England subscriber Michael Reale currently stands in fourth place with a 2.3-pounder weighed in AW Marina, followed by Long Islander Christopher Jones with a 2.05-pounder at Wego B/T, Brian Wahl from Oceanside, NY with a 2.02-pounder weighed in at Capitol Bait and Tackle, and Mark Borucke with a 2-pounder at West End Bait and Tackle.
The Dream Boat leaderboard began to get interesting heading into the month of June, as several subscribers pivoted to other available species. After first getting on the board with a sea robin in May, Zembreski had a cup of coffee while sitting on top of the bluefish division with a 14.04-pounder weighed in at Cow Harbor Tackle. Days later, Richie Bovich took over the lead and the 10 total points for bluefish when the Long Islander weighed in a 14.5-pounder at Dicks Bait and Tackle.
Meanwhile, Rajpaul placed his second fish on the board, the first fluke, an 8.3-pounder weighed in at Bayonne Bait & Tackle. Not to be outdone, the New Jersey subscriber headed east to fish the Nantucket Shoals on June 23 for a 12.3-pounder which he brought back for weigh-in in Bayonne, replacing his earlier rug with a true doormat. It was a good early strategy, given New England subscriber Jeffrey Harrison’s 10-pound doormat weighed in at Fishin’ Factory 3 on June 18.
With 8 points for a third place porgy and 10 points in the fluke division, Rajpaul maintained his overall Dream Boat lead heading into July, followed in second place by Borucke (1st place weakfish, 7th place porgy) and Zembreski (6th largest sea robin, 2nd largest bluefish) in third, each with 14 points.
Then came Independence Day Weekend, and quite literally the heat was on.
Rating The Field
Here’s a bit of sporting trivia for you; did you know that the longest dirt track in North American horseracing is at Belmont Park on Long Island, the “Big Sandy” coming in at 1.5 miles long? Having dropped a bit of coin there myself over the years, I can tell you that it ain’t over until it’s over. And with plenty of time before the homestretch in the 2026 Dream Boat Fishing Challenge, there are several notable contenders in the field; one, maybe two fish from August through November certain to change things across the board.
Case in point; in the time it’s taken me to write the previous paragraph, New Jersey subscriber Frank Maglio landed in the top slot of the sea robin division with a 3-pounder weighed in at Bayonne Bait and Tackle. That cost both Rajpaul and Zembreski a point, moving each leader down a point in the overall standings. With the blackfish division completely open and a minimum entry weight of 7 pounds, should Maglio decide to take advantage of New Jersey’s blackfish reopening on August 1 (one fish at 15 inches), just a single tautog would thrust him to the top of the Dream Boat Challenge leaderboard.
Entering the week of July 13th, there were still over two dozen open positions across seven species categories (weakfish, porgy, sea robin, fluke, bluefish, blackfish, and black sea bass). That of course could change any given day, and it typically does; sorting entries following the Fourth of July Weekend, it most certainly would. Like when Patrick Walsh of Mastic Beach, NY brought in a 30-inch doormat for weigh-in at Dicks Bait and Tackle on Long Island on July 2, an 11.38-pounder that immediately put him in the lead for a Fish of the Month prize package for the month of July including a Bulls Bay fishing rod and Danco pliers. Earlier Fish of the Month prize winners included Mark Borucke for his May weakfish and New England edition subscriber Tan Bui for his 2.74-pound June sea robin. But this would not be the last we’d hear from Bui.
On July 1, Bui walked a 2.5-pound porgy into Quaker Lane Bait and Tackle, the pacesetters parted, and a potential new closer came up strong along the rail. By the time of our weekly video fishing forecast on Thursday, July 9, Tan Bui’s new top porgy (10 points) coupled with his third place sea robin (8 points) thrust the New England edition subscriber from Pennsylvania into a neck-and-neck battle for top slot in this year’s race for the Dream Boat with Rajpaul, both subscribers with 18 points during following Independence Day. Someone will end up winning the $142K Dream Boat package, but our second place prize package of a dream fishing trip to Tropic Star Lodge in Panama sure beats a silver medal.
| RULES & ENTRY FORMS |
| For the official Dream Boat Fishing Challenge rules, prizes, listing of weigh stations and the official entry form (should there not be one available at your local tackle shop), point your camera phone at the QR code to be taken to the official Dream Boat Fishing Challenge page at TheFisherman.com. Remember, you must be an active, paid subscriber before you catch that tournament winning fish!
In addition to the top three prize packages and Fish of the Month prizes, the subscriber who catches the largest fish each of the seven species categories will win a Quantum Merit spinning reel, 9-inch Relentless fillet knife and Starbrite custom cleaning kit bucket. Anyone on the board in one of the 70 slots when the Dream Boat Fishing Challenge comes to a close on November 30 will win a 30-yard spool of 30-pound Yo-Zuri SuperFluoro and 300-yard spool of 30-pound Yo-Zuri SuperBraid 9. Get weekly leaderboard updates appearing in the digital edition of The Fisherman every Tuesday. |
In the battle for third place and the Sea Eagle FastTrack Angler 385EA fishing rig and Engel cooler, Borucke, and Zembreski each with 14 points heading into week eleven of the Dream Boat Fishing Challenge continue to attack other available species while occasionally glancing back at the fast-approaching field. It’s still anyone’s race, and it’s entirely possible that this year’s champ hasn’t even entered his or her first fish of the season!
At last count, seventeen Long Island subscribers were on the board, nine from New Jersey, and five out of New England. As a reminder, you don’t have to catch and weigh-in the fish in the state you live; past champions in The Fisherman’s Dream Boat Fishing Challenge have traveled along the coast, in between regional editions and crossing state boundaries to get on the best possible bite, often booking charters or hopping aboard head boats where the seasonal run was at its best.
And after all the hand-wringing and debate over black sea bass regulations earlier this year, it’s hard to believe that so few of our competitors have gotten into the knotheads. The first place sea bass for Long Island’s Rick Nydegger, a 3.10-pounder weighed in at East End Bait & Tackle on June 6 is a good fish, but not insurmountable. New Jersey’s Scotty Pullen’s 3.10-pounder on The Reel Seat scale – a half-inch smaller than Nydegger’s in the tie-breaking scheme – was weighed in two days prior (to be honest with you, I didn’t know Pullen ever left the beach!) Third place in that category as of July 8th was Long Island’s John Rasulo with a 3-pounder weighed in at Star Island. For reference sake, the smallest sea bass entered into the 2025 Dream Boat Fishing Challenge weighed in at 4.14 pounds.
As another reminder to subscribers – particularly as it relates to porgies, fluke, and sea bass – if you’re on a head boat trip this summer and win the pool, don’t let the mates cut that fish. If it’s good enough to win cash in the pool, it’s probably good enough to weigh-in back ashore at your local tackle shop so long as they’re an official Dream Boat weigh station!
And I would add that sea robins are no joke; since Toby Lapinski first authored his Sea Robins: Trash Fish No More! article in The Fisherman in August of 2017, many anglers have followed our lead with dropping these birds in the box. Go to TheFisherman.com and type “Sea Robin” into the search bar for several recipe ideas including Sea Robin Ceviche and Sea Robin Salad or go to our YouTube Channel where The Fisherman’s Dave Anderson is walked through a mouth-watering sea robin preparation by James Beard Award winner, Chef David Standridge.
At the midpoint of the Northeast summer, the Dream Boat is still anyone’s game. The hammer always seems to drop in the fall, when bluefish begin to fatten up and the biggest tog start to chew. If your fishing dreams include winning a decked out fishing boat worth more than $140K, let today be the day that you begin the quest to make it happen! We’ll see you at the finish line.
