An overview of the 2025 New York interclub surf fishing contest.
The 2025 New York Surf Fishing Contest (NYSFC) included 10 fishing clubs. In all, we had 337 eligible anglers with verified scales. Of the those eligible anglers, 100 earned NYSFC points.
High Hill Striper Club gained top honors, earning the number one position in total points for 2025. High Hill’s 2,600 points were 136 points better than runner-up Striper Surf Club (2,464). All-Island Surfcasters finished in third place with 2,283 points (Table I-A).
In the Released Fish category, Paumonak Surfcasters finished in first-place with 9,386 points, 824 points better than second-place High Hill Striper Club (8,562). All-Island Surfcasters finished in third place with 8,300 points (Table I-B). Of the 1,022 total fish (striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, and fluke), all but 7 fish were released (1 bluefish and 6 fluke).
Of the competing clubs, Striper Surf Club showed the greatest improvement over 2024 – 35.2% increase.
James Cameron of Farragut Striper Club claimed the top spot in the Individual Standings (1,480) besting second-place Aaron Gallusser (High Hill Striper Club) by 102 points (1,378). Darwin Lopez of Striper Surf Club was third with 1,154 points, Rob LaRosa (Paumonak Surfcasters) was fourth with 866 points and Ross Squire (Traditional Surfcasters) rounded out the Top 5 with 778 points. (Table I-C).
Nicole Gaines (Striper Surf Club) reigned supreme in the Women’s Striped Bass and Bluefish categories landing a 20-pound striper and 14-pound bluefish.
So how did James Cameron, Aaron Gallusser, and Darwin Lopez achieve the top spots in the NYSFC? In speaking with them, they offered some interesting comments:
- There is just no substitute for time on the water. James, Aaron and Darwin typically spend 4-plus days/nights per week in the water during the season and then kick it into a higher gear in October and November.
- All three noted that the effort required to find consistent fish was greater than 2024. In many cases, go-to locations proved inconsistent and required locating new places to fish.
- James has a solid network of fishing buddies that he leverages to locate and report fish. This network extends from NYC to the East End.
- When fishing patterns did emerge, in most cases they were short-lived and required you to fish them hard.
- Aaron noted that he relies on a fishing log that dates back to 2017. He relies on this log to determine where to focus effort depending on weather and moon phases. It is not uncommon for him to hit 3 to 4 different locations in an outing.
- Most of Aaron’s success this fall was found fishing in the daylight hours.
- All three noted concern for the bluefish and striped bass fisheries. The year featured many slot and larger fish but very few smaller fish. Bluefish runs tended to be short-lived and inconsistent.
- For go-to lures, James found greatest success with bucktails, SP Minnows, Mag Darters, bottle plugs in the colder water, and poppers on the bunker pods. Darwin fished metal lips and landed most of his larger fish on those plugs; he singled out Jim Jaget metal lips and Super Strike darters. Aaron relied heavily on bucktails with most of his larger fish coming on rigged eels.
- James and Darwin noted that there is no substitute for having confidence on the water while Aaron noted that patience on the water was important as was learning from those fishing around him – being observant and open to trying new techniques can pay real dividends.
The NYSFC 2025 results show mixed results from 2024 levels:
- The average striped bass points per club increased 9.5% from 2024 levels (1,219.6 versus 1,113.9).
- Average bluefish points in 2025 were down 20% from 2024 (401.5 versus 500.9) continuing a downward trend where 2024 levels were 15% lower than 2023 levels.
- The total points of the top five clubs saw a 19% decrease from 2024 (11,432 versus 9,236; there was a 26% decrease from 2024 to 2023.
- The total release points of the top three clubs saw a 12% decrease from 2024 (29,892 versus 26,248); there was a 43% decrease from 2024 to 2023.
Observations
As with 2024, 2025 saw inconsistent fishing throughout Long Island’s surf. While we had an appearance of sand eels on the south shore in the fall, we did not see the type of consistency of the bait that would lead to consistent success in the surf. This could be due to having fewer fish close to shore or a lack of significant bluefish to drive the bait and fish to our beaches. The north shore saw a significant decrease in the amount of bait available with adult bunker, peanut bunker and sand eels fairly scarce for most of the year.
Bluefish made their customary arrival on the south shore in April through June but never really showed in any great numbers in the fall. The north shore saw a significant decline in bluefish entered into the contest with only 16 bluefish entered on the north shore the entire year.
Most troubling was the lack of schoolies throughout the year. We will need to get used to this as the seven years of poor recruitment in the Chesapeake will surely impact our fishing over the next several years.
Montauk again did not live up to its name as the Surfcasting Capital of the World. During the contest there were only 13 striped bass and 27 bluefish entered in the contest. The fall run never materialized with zero striped bass or bluefish entered in the contest in the months of October and November.
Fluke joined the NYSFC in 2025. Of the 100 anglers posting NYSFC points, 16 anglers posted fluke points. Of those 16 anglers, 8 posted only one fish. It remains to be seen whether competition for fluke will increase in the coming years.
All of this is not to say that there were no runs of fish. If you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time you were rewarded with mostly slot and larger fish. These fish are the remnants of the strong 2018, 2015 and 2011 year classes.
Much has been said of the importance of fishing around the new and full moons. A quick review of the data shows that over the course of the contest, just over 50% of the striped bass caught were in the three days before and after the full and new moons.
In summary, it took many anglers a very large commitment of time and effort to produce positive results in the surf this year. As noted in other annual reports:
A Final Note
When the number of fish in our waters decreased, the keys to success were spelled out well by Steve, Aaron and Darwin. Persistence, time on the water, focusing on positive tides, leveraging successful patterns, and expanding beyond your comfort zone seem to be the roadmap to success.
Two final acknowledgements. The first to our Contest Officer, John Citarella who continues to do an excellent job of gathering the data and quickly publishing the results. Thanks, John, for all that you do to help run the contest.
The second is to John Papciak, for your help in updating the Access database to accommodate the addition of fluke to the contest. You saved us considerable time and effort in incorporating fluke into the database – thanks!
Table I: 2025 Award Winners
| A. Club Standings | ||||||
| Place | Club | Bass Pts | Blue Pts | Weak Pts | Fluke Pts | Total Pts |
| 1 | HIGH HILL STRIPER CLUB | 1,915 | 615 | 39 | 31 | 2,600 |
| 2 | STRIPER SURF CLUB | 1,719 | 640 | 23 | 82 | 2,464 |
| 3 | ALL-ISLAND SURFCASTERS | 1,646 | 567 | 21 | 49 | 2,283 |
| 4 | PAUMONAK SURFCASTERS | 1,380 | 813 | 0 | 60 | 2,253 |
| 5 | FARRAGUT STRIPER CLUB | 1,652 | 379 | 5 | 0 | 2,036 |
| 6 | TRADITIONAL SURFCASTERS | 1,245 | 203 | 6 | 0 | 1,454 |
| 7 | NORTH BROOKHAVEN SPORTFISHING CLUB | 856 | 298 | 6 | 0 | 1,161 |
| 8 | NORTH FORK ANGLERS | 943 | 176 | 7 | 6 | 1,132 |
| 9 | GATEWAY STRIPER CLUB | 793 | 140 | 0 | 0 | 933 |
| 10 | ATLANTIC SURFCASTERS | 67 | 184 | 0 | 0 | 251 |
| B. Release Points | ||
| Place | Name | Pts |
| 1 | PAUMONAK SURFCASTERS | 9,386 |
| 2 | HIGH HILL STRIPER CLUB | 8,562 |
| 3 | ALL-ISLAND SURFCASTERS | 8,300 |
| 4 | TRADITIONAL SURFCASTERS | 2,620 |
| 5 | NORTH FORK ANGLERS | 2,417 |
| 6 | NORTH BROOKHAVEN SPORTFISHING CLUB | 2,028 |
| C. Individual Standings – Top 25 | |||||||
| Place | Name | Club | Bass Pts | Blue Pts | Weak Pts | Fluke pts | Total Pts |
| 1 | JAMES CAMERON | FSC | 1,285 | 195 | 0 | 0 | 1,480 |
| 2 | AARON GALLUSSER | HHSC | 1,074 | 280 | 0 | 24 | 1,378 |
| 3 | DARWIN LOPEZ | SSC | 860 | 234 | 0 | 60 | 1,154 |
| 4 | ROB LAROSA | PSC | 699 | 167 | 0 | 0 | 866 |
| 5 | ROSS SQUIRE | TSC | 771 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 778 |
| 6 | LEE GOODMAN | AIS | 495 | 185 | 0 | 36 | 716 |
| 7 | KEITH FRANZ | GSC | 622 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 666 |
| 8 | JIM ROMANO | NBSC | 487 | 154 | 0 | 0 | 641 |
| 9 | SANTOS ACOSTA | PSC | 128 | 456 | 0 | 0 | 584 |
| 10 | DYLAN JEWEL | AIS | 404 | 132 | 0 | 0 | 536 |
| 11 | JASON BRUNDER | AIS | 350 | 158 | 5 | 0 | 513 |
| 12 | DONALD DICOSTANZO | HHSC | 267 | 129 | 13 | 0 | 409 |
| 13 | MIKE PERRONE | SSC | 263 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 315 |
| 14 | LARRY WELCOME | NFA | 264 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 287 |
| 15 | DAVE WHITNEY | SSC | 144 | 86 | 23 | 4 | 257 |
| 16 | STEPHEN SCHUMACHER | NBSC | 228 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 253 |
| 17 | BLAKE WHITE | AIS | 211 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 252 |
| 18 | WILLIAM MULLER | TSC | 100 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 206 |
| 19 | BRIAN GARNOCK | HHSC | 176 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 202 |
| 20 | BRIAN MCMANUS | SSC | 189 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 189 |
| 21 | BOGGIE TUROWSKI | HHSC | 112 | 51 | 12 | 0 | 175 |
| 22 | RICH GREIN | TSC | 130 | 29 | 6 | 0 | 165 |
| 22 | JOE MAZZA | NFA | 136 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 165 |
| 24 | TOMMY SCALFANI | HHSC | 91 | 70 | 0 | 3 | 164 |
| 25 | JOHN MLODYNIA | FSC | 146 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 162 |
| D. Largest Species (First place) | |||||
| Species | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| Striped Bass | BOGGIE TUROWSKI | HHSC | 6/17/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Striped Bass | CHRIS KOUIMANIS | AIS | 6/17/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Striped Bass | LARRY PACIFICO | AIS | 10/3/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Bluefish | ROB LAROSA | PSC | 10/1/25 | 19 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Weakfish | JASON BRUNDER | AIS | 10/16/25 | 5 | MONTAUK |
| Fluke | LEE GOODMAN | AIS | 9/23/25 | 8 | SOUTH SHORE |
| E. Women’s Division (First place) | |||||
| Species | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| Striped Bass | NICOLE GAINES | SSC | 10/7/25 | 20 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Bluefish | NICOLE GAINES | SSC | 5/10/25 | 14 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Weakfish | NO ENTRY | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Fluke | NO ENTRY | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| F. Children’s Division (First place) | |||||
| Species | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| Striped Bass | NO ENTRY | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Bluefish | ELENA LAPERSONERIE | PSC | 7/18/25 | 8 | SOUTH SHORE |
| G. Junior Division (First place) | |||||
| Species | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| Striped Bass | AYDEN JEWEL | AIS | 5/16/26 | 14 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Bluefish | ADAM GROSSMAN | GSC | 5/22/26 | 15 | SOUTH SHORE |
TABLE II: LARGEST OF SPECIES – 2025
Top witnessed or weighed-in fish by weight.
Note that a given angler is limited to one fish for the Largest of Species final tabulation.
| Striped Bass: | |||||
| Place | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| 1 | BOGGIE TUROWSKI | HHSC | 6/17/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 1 | CHRIS KOUIMANIS | AIS | 6/17/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 1 | LARRY PACIFICO | AIS | 10/3/25 | 45 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 4 | AARON GALLUSSER | HHSC | 10/7/25 | 42 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 5 | BRIAN GARNOCK | HHSC | 10/8/25 | 40 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Bluefish: | |||||
| Place | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| 1 | ROB LAROSA | PSC | 10/1/25 | 19 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 2 | SANTOS ACOSTA | PSC | 5/12/25 | 17 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 2 | ROB LAROSA | PSC | 6/22/25 | 17 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 2 | SANTOS ACOSTA | PSC | 7/12/25 | 17 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 4 | CHRIS SABELLA | NBSC | 5/23/25 | 16 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 5 | ROB LAROSA | PSC | 6/11/25 | 16 | SOUTH SHORE |
| Weakfish: | |||||
| Place | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| 1 | JASON BRUNDER | AIS | 10/16/25 | 5 | MONTAUK POINT |
| Fluke: | |||||
| Place | Name | Club | Date | Weight | Location |
| 1 | LEE GOODMAN | AIS | 9/23/25 | 8 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 2 | JIMMY BENES | PSC | 6/30/25 | 7 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 3 | RON CONTRELLI | NFA | 5/4/25 | 6 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 4 | DON DEMASCO | PSC | 9/8/25 | 6 | SOUTH SHORE |
| 5 | JIMMY BENES | PSC | 10/3/25 | 6 | SOUTH SHORE |
