The Riverview Striped Bass Election Day Tournament, hosted by the View Restaurant in Oakdale, NY, saw over 400 anglers enjoy what was likely the best event in its 26 year history. With unprecedented numbers of bunker parading down the South Shore, and bass and big blues riding herd on them, most participating boats had little difficulty finding action. In most cases it was just a matter of finding the right schools of bunker, which apparently many of the 130-plus boats did as many captains reported easily limiting out. The quality was there too. Of the 15 winning fish, 13 of them topped the 30-pound mark, led by a 41.2 pounder decked by Bill Connaughton of the Marine Max Fishing Team. That fish was worth $5,530 in prize money.
This is the second consecutive season of outsize bluefish roaming this part of the coast so it came as no surprise that one of these monsters would find its way to the scale. The bluefish prize was settled when Steve Dunn, fishing aboard Fortuna, put a 22.2-pound chopper on the scale. That blue earned Steve $3,550. An unprecedented number of blues topping the 20-pound mark have been reported this fall from around the Island, including Long Island Sound, Montauk, the South Shore and NY Bight from boat and surf. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the fish are reaching these dimensions as a result of the incredible amount – some would say overabundance – of bunker in our waters. In the Junior Division for anglers under 16, Jackson Lumate put a 26 pound striper aboard Anthony Quintal’s Sasquatch. For a complete rundown of the winners, see the article in the December issue of The Fisherman.