The tournament will benefit children with disabilities. The first, of what is expected to be an annual event, is scheduled to take place on October 24, 2020. This tournament will be open to the public and the fishing boundaries will cover the entire Long Island Sound, from the Whitestone Bridge to the west, all the way to Orient Point and across to Watch Hill Point, RI to the east. Registration for the tournament will be online only and is scheduled to open on September 1. The registration fee will be $60 per angler, half of which will be accumulated into a “cash prize pool”, with the other half (less minor fixed expenses) donated to United Cerebral Palsy of Long Island and directed towards their programs and services for Children with Disabilities (no one associated with the tournament will receive any form of compensation). The cash prize pool will be used to award cash prizes to the 14 anglers who weigh-in the heaviest blackfish, and will be split 40 percent of the pool for the heaviest fish, 20 percent of the pool for the second heaviest, 10 percent of the pool for the third heaviest, 5 percent of the pool for the fourth heaviest and 2.5 percent of the pool for each of the next ten heaviest fish. In addition there will be a $5,000 bonus cash prize if a registered participant catches a specially tagged fish that will be released into the Sound sometime prior to the start of the tournament, and there will be a $1,000 bonus cash prize for any fish weighing over 15 pounds.
Additional information and the official rules will be available on the tournament website, www.lisoundblackfishtournament.com. The Tournament Committee is currently in the process of recruiting weigh-in locations and sponsors. For more info email lisoundblackfishtournament@gmail.com.
