Three hundred fifteen kayak anglers from as far south as North Carolina and as far north as Maine set out in search of stripers, blues and weakfish with the hope of scoring a grand slam and a chance to compete in the Hobie World Kayak Fishing Championship to take place in Louisiana this coming December. While stripers and blues were plentiful enough, weakfish were tough to come by, with just a couple of the yellowfins taken by participating anglers. One was enough for Eric Harrison who hails from Arlington, MA, and scored the only grand slam of the tournament, earning him first place and a ticket to the Bayou State this winter.
The lack of weakfish meant that an angler’s two largest bass and largest blue could qualify them for the Grand Slam Division, and that put perennial top gun Elias Vaisberg in second place with bass measuring out at 41 and 38 inches to go with a 30.5-inch bluefish, and a score of 109.5. Likewise, Nate Matthews of West Islip paired bass of 41 and 33.5 inches with a blue of 33 inches for a score of 107.5 and third place.
According to tournament director, Capt. Jerry (Capt. Kayak) Collins, fishing was okay on Friday afternoon with some big blues and a pick of bass. Saturday’s fishing which ran from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. saw more fish taken but many anglers cut their fishing short as the wind built up in late afternoon. Sunday’s session was called off due to small craft warnings and northwest winds that reached 30 knots.
Capt. Jerry heard from some of the participants who said they fared better working deep into the bay near Kennedy Airport. While bluefish dominated the daytime fishing scene, those who opted to fish night tides outside of the tournament schedule, did very with stripers as the blues backed off once the sun went down. The abundance of bunker in the bay led some anglers to fish live or chunked bunker, but artificial also accounted for their share of fish. Below is a list of the winners in the five divisions.
| GRAND SLAM DIVISION | |||
| NAME | HOMETOWN | WINNING FISH | |
| 1st Place | ERIC HARRISON | ARLINGTON, MA | 24.5" BASS, 29" BLUE, 30.5" WEAKFISH |
| 2nd Place | ELIAS VAISBERG | BROOKLYN, NY | 41" BASS, 38" BASS, 30.5" BLUE (109.5) |
| 3rd Place | NATE MATTHEWS | WEST ISLIP, NY | 41"BASS, 33.5" BASS, 33" BLUE (107.5) |
| OPEN DIVISION | |||
| NAME | HOMETOWN | WINNING FISH | |
| 1st Place Tie | NATE MATTHEWS | WEST ISLIP, NY | 41" STRIPED BASS |
| 1st Place Tie | ELIAS VAISBERG | BROOKLYN, NY | 41" STRIPED BASS |
| 2nd Place Tie | LAWRENCE AVVENIRE | ASTORIA, NY | 39" STRIPED BASS |
| 2nd Place Tie | MARK DeLaRosa | NEWBURG, NY | 39" STRIPED BASS |
| 3rd Place Tie | ELIAS VAISBERG | BROOKLYN, NY | 38" STRIPED BASS |
| 3rd Place Tie | TOM WARMAN | LANSDALE, PA | 38" STRIPED BASS |
| 3rd Place Tie | MARTIN KARWOWSKI | INDIAN TRAIL, NC | 38" BLUE |
| FLY DIVISION | |||
| NAME | HOMETOWN | WINNING FISH | |
| 1st Place | BOB MARVIN | CENTRAL ISLIP, NY | 32.5" Blue |
| 2nd Place | KURT SCHWARZ | BROOKLYN, NY | 31.5" Blue |
| 3rd Place | KURT SCHWARZ | BROOKLYN, NY | 24.5" STRIPED BASS |
| JUNIOR DIVISION | |||
| NAME | HOMETOWN | WINNING FISH | |
| 1st Place | JOLENE READ | CAMPTON, NH | 34.5" Blue |
| 2nd Place | NOAH TOMASIK | LUSBY, MD | 30.5" Blue |
| 3rd Place | KYLE LABAR | PHILADELPHIA,PA | 25" Blue |
| ELECTRIC DIVISION | |||
| NAME | HOMETOWN | WINNING FISH | |
| 1st Place | DAVE KRZESZOWIEC | BERLIN, CT | 32" BLUE |
| 2nd Place | DAVE KRZESZOWIEC | BERLIN, CT | 27" BLUE |
| 3rd Place | BRIAN HALL | PORTSMOUTH, RI | 25" BLUE |
