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Nelson Sigelman
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My fishing effort in the 14th Annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club Catch and Release Tournament began with homemade sausage and barbecued ribs. I wanted to win, but I wanted to eat well even more.
Ned Casey was my fishing team member for the Saturday competition. He is an excellent cook, a skill that I have come to appreciate over years of fishing competition.
The tournament is an annual one-night competition that begins at 7 pm and ends at 2 am. Teams of varying size attempt to catch and release the most striped bass.
Generally speaking, if I do not have fish busting in front of me by 11 pm, I am ready to go home and go to sleep. Ned and I managed to hang in until a little after 1 am, when we finally decided to call it quits.
In all, 204 fishermen registered for the tournament, and 194 showed up to fish Saturday night. Theoretically the conditions for fly-fishing were perfect: a southwest wind and a dark, moonless night, with a falling tide at Lobsterville.
There should have been plenty of fish caught, but at the Sunday morning breakfast that preceded the awards ceremony most of the fishermen reported little success.
In total, participants caught and released approximately 546 fish, or three fish per fisherman on average. Of course, there was no average catch. Some guys caught nothing despite a night-long effort.
For team overweight (believe me there was a lot of poundage), East Beach, a black fly and an intermediate line proved to be a winning combination. Lobsterville Beach, usually a consistent winner, proved to be something of a bust.
I expect that will change very soon, if it has not already. Ned and I poked around in Sengekontacket and Edgartown and managed to catch six fish and lose several more. Up-Island team Caddyshack kept up its winning streak in the one-fly category (meaning each fisherman can use only one fly for the night) and found lots of fish.
At the awards ceremony Sunday, Charlie Finnerty asked me to announce that his team member, Mac Haskell, had lost his fly rod and reel in the trees, an unusual place to lose a fishing rod. He explained that driving down a dirt road Mac’s fly snagged on a low tree limb.
Once the entire line unspooled from the reel the entire outfit was pulled out of the rod holder.
Curious, I asked Charlie, “And you didn’t hear anything?”
“We were listening to some tunes,” Charlie explained. ”It’s tough when you lose your one fly, but it’s tougher when you lose your whole rod.”
Luckily, that same morning at the awards ceremony, Mac recovered his rod. Before an osprey could incorporate Mac’s fly rod into a nest, fisherman Julian Pepper spotted it in the tree limbs.
Not so lucky, Dave Loren put his TNT rod with an Abel reel on top of his car in Menemsha then drove off. He would be very happy to get it back and may be reached at 401-247-2738.
The tournament results follow:
Sonny and Joey Beaulieu award for the largest fish caught and released: Rick Harvey, 54 inches (length and girth); Matthew Whritenour, 51 inches; John Grandin, 50.5 inches.
Arnold Spofford award for most fish caught and released with one fly by a team: Caddyshack (Mac Haskell, Charlie Finnerty, J.C. Giordano), 9.66 fish average; Scare and Release (Ed and Jim Lepore), 3; Good Eats (Ned Casey, Nelson Sigelman) 3; We Don’t Want No Blues (Dave Nuttall, Dave Souza, Brent Baer), 2.66.
Roberto Germani award for the most fish caught and released by a team: Sandra Demel, John Kollett, 10.5 fish average; Team Overweight (Nick Fersen, Paul Fersen, Rory Jensen, Ray Long, Rick Harvey, Cooper Gilkes), 7.5; Team Italia (Steve Baccelli, Mike Gagliardi), 6.5; Team Jumpin’ Minnow (Tony Jackson, Tim Sheron, Chris Goeckel, William Pate), 6.25.
"Copyright The Martha's Vineyard Times, 2005. Reprinted with permission."
nelson@mvtimes.com Nelson Sigelman
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