As you may recall from a few weeks ago, the son of a member of The Fisherman family has been fighting Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) since early July. You can read the details here. While Owen Hanecak’s condition is considered now to be in remission, he and his family are not out of the woods yet as a grueling 3.5-year treatment remains ahead of them. But as expected when one of our own needs help, the fishing community has come together to help pout the Hanecak family in unimaginable ways.
THE TOURNAMENT
Dave Anderson has been running a catch and release striped bass surf fishing tournament with all of the proceeds going towards Owen’s treatment expenses for the past four weeks. The tournament began on September 22 and ends this weekend on October 21. It follows the format that Dave established through his GoTight.net tournaments and has been an extremely exciting and competitive event so far as nearly 150 anglers from Massachusetts to New Jersey vie for the top spot. It is still anyone’s game and the winner will be announced this Saturday at the big fundraiser.
THE FUNDRAISER
On this Saturday, October 21, at the Clinton (CT) Town Hall, we will have a full afternoon of seminars, raffles, auctions, food and more with all proceeds going to benefit Owen’s treatment. Festivities kick-off at noon and will conclude around 4:30 p.m. A $10 donation will be requested at the door, but be sure to bring some extra cash as we have a lengthy list of items that will be up for grabs in the raffles and silent auctions (see below.) Full details on the event can be seen on Facebook.
There will be two big-time speakers at the event. For the boat fishing enthusiasts, Capt. Jack Sprengel will be presenting “Striped Bass: Backwater to Big Water” with a focus on advanced boating approaches to targeting stripers in a wide variety of locations and conditions. Capt. Jack is a well-rounded angler targeting everything from tuna to carp. He is an engaging speaker and is sure to deliver an awesome presentation! And for the surf fishermen in attendance, Pat Abate and Steve McKenna will be speaking about “Block Island Techniques: Then and Now”. This will be a fascinating look at how fishing has evolved over the years on Block Island.
If you’ll be unable to attend the event, you can still help out by making a donation through the gofundme page which has been set up to assist in the expenses of Owen’s treatment.
As noted above, there is a ton of awesome stuff that has been donated so far, and most everyone in attendance should walk away with something. Here is a little sampling of what will be available to win through the auctions and raffles:
- Special darter from Super Strike Lures
- Stormr Surf Top & gloves
- Custom surf belt from Flatlander Surfcasting
- Plug selection from Tank Surfcasting
- 4wt fly rod from Paco’s Custom Rods
- Colaboration plugs from Washed Ashore Plugs & Chris Blouin
- Plug selection from Sunset Plugs
- Plug selection from FJR Plugs
- Lanyard set from Smart Lanyards
- Plug selection from Numbskull lures
- Otter Tails
- Plug selection from Couch’s Cedar Works
- 2 surf rods, shirts & stickers from Lamiglas
- A plug selection from The Surfcaster
- Bucktail set from Lucky Bucktails
- Plug selection from Guppy Lures
- Flag Glider from Linesider 69 Plugs
- Set of pencil poppers from MJT Lures
- Star Rods S Series spinning reel
- Plug selection from Winch Custom Plugs
- Plug selection from Tattoo’s Tackle
- Pink Crackle Darter from Afterhours Custom Plugs
- Plug selection from Luna Plugs
- Jigs & soft plastics from JoeBaggs Bucktails
- Selection of rattle products from World Record Striper Co.
- Custom Lami 1321m by Billy DeLizio
- Soft Plastics & jig heads from Al Gags Lures
- Gift Certificate for Reel Cast Charters
- 9′ Lamiglas Infinity rod
- Set of Habs Sr plugs
- Custom Lamiglas 1201L by Drew Ciok
- LG single Tube & leader wallet by EbbPoint Surf Fishing
- T Bone Needlefish
- Sea bass deep troller, sea bass slim medium troller & prototype darter from Big Water Lures
- Fatty junior from Fatty Lures
- Framed Vito De Vito print
- Signed Flag Danny, Serving Spoon plug & "Solid Gold Danny" by RM Smith Custom Plugs
- Sunset Cannon "Sporty"
- Plug selection from Surf Asylum Lures
- Plug selection & hats from BigFish Bait Co.
- Custom ODM Next1 11′ 2-6 rod by Lou’s Custom Rods
- Custom Canal Cruiser bike
- 2 tickets for a trip aboard the Black Hawk
- One spot on an "inshore open boat trip" (Quincy Flounder or Westport tog/fluke/sea bass or 4am stripers) aboard Little Sister Charters
- Shield 4000 & 6000 reels
- Custom-wrapped Old School Lami GSB 1321m Conventional in honor of Ezidro "Zeke" Silva
- Signed box set of Frank Daignault books
- 50L Calcutta cooler, bottle & cup set
- Signed copy of bright waters, shining tides by Kib Bramhal
- Signed book set from Charley Soares
- 1/2-day guided fly fishing instruction by land or paddleboard with the Yale Fly Fishing Club
- $100 gift certificate to Red Top Sporting Goods
- Complete Auto Detailing at Suburban Subaru
- Woodburned striped bass from Bold Coast Burns
- Plug set from Mike’s Custom Plugs
- 10′ Ron Arra rod & Penn 7500 reel
- Super Strike Bunk-O-Lantern darter
- Full-day charter with Newport Sport Fishing Charters
- $200 credit (4 hours labor @ $50/HR) with Frate Electric
- Offshore tuna or shark trip for 2 with Capt. Tom White
- 11-inch walnut & cherry bowl by Chris Groves
- Original water color painting by David Riina Fine Art
- 2 Tickets for a trip aboard the Mijoy
