Block Island Sharkfest

[ChumSlickRick]

Fished the BI tournament Sunday and Monday. Arrived at BI on Sat. afternoon on a buddies boat. We started going over everything and realize that we do not have a valid HMS permit for the boat. Mate goes into panic mode. He ends up getting it online and gets it faxed to the island. He thought the permit was good for two years. Hit the Oar for dinner then to bed by 8. Big Hatteras backs in the slip behind us with a Mother, Father, and 3 teenagers on board. They continued to drink, argue, and cuss as loud as they could until about 3am when the wife beat the crap out of her husband. 4am functioning on one hour of sleep we head out. Set up at the Horns and hook up within an hour. Cant see the fish yet, but it makes a run under the boat. Ran to the helm, turned the key " click click click". Boat will not start. Check all the batteries, bang on the starter, nothing. Dead in the water. Shark ends up being a big bluedog anyway but now we are stuck. Got on the radio to see if any boats in the area could give us a hand to no avail. No sat phone, so the cappy called PJ Coastguard for assistance. They contacted Towboat US who blasted out from block to give us a jump. $1400 later we are up and running only we don't want to shut the boat off. fished while idling all day for 6 bluedogs and nothing to weigh in. Packed it in and headed back to block. Bill Brown was on the board with a 180 Thresher. 2 others brought in fish but they were short. Next morning, got a full night of sleep, boat starts right up (go figure), headed out at 5am to the acid barge area because of the 4 to 6 seas we didn't want to go far. super fast drift, by 2pm we were past the fairway buoy. 12 more bluedogs and two runoffs and line breaks. Saw some whales and a big pod of BFT's run through our slick by the buoy. No fish to weigh in, back to Stonington. Broke and hungover. Anybody know who won the tournament?

[sportsman250]

don't bring bananas next time

[colad]

I had heard of the BI tournament but could not find any information on it. Do any of you have any info, website, contacts etc. Would love to look into it for next year. Thanks!

[AlloyToy]

$1400!!!! No insurance????? or beyond the NM range??

[ChumSlickRick]

The tournament is put on by J&B Tackle out of Niantic, CT. The same guys that do the Tri-State. http://www.jbtackle.com/tri_state.asp. Its a fun tournament, only 30 boats.

I think we were beyond the NM limit. Hopefully the insurance will kick in for some of it.

[CLASSIC HOOKER]

I fished the tournment this weekend, a 173 +/- Mako won total 16k, a 185+/- thresh won 14k, blue 106.5'' won largest over all, 5k.
I landed 8-10 SE side of Coxes. On the way in, pretty good fog, SE side of BI, all electronics went out, that sucked.

Great tournament, Kerry , Kyle and the guy's at JB are excellent hosts, run a top notch out fit.

[tunaddiction]

Was out east of the gulley on sunday and I heard you guys on the radio out at the horns. Was wondering how much that was going to cost ya. Sharked at the horns a week or so ago with the same results on bluedogs. We have been covered up multiple times already this year but did manage that thresher on the troll a few days ago.

[ChumSlickRick]

Was out east of the gulley on sunday and I heard you guys on the radio out at the horns. Was wondering how much that was going to cost ya. Sharked at the horns a week or so ago with the same results on bluedogs. We have been covered up multiple times already this year but did manage that thresher on the troll a few days ago.

Nice job on that Thresher!! Whats the recipe for that scampi? If we manage something other than a bluedog this year, that sure looked good.

[zyg56]

Bad to hear about the breakdown ChumSlickRick. That can ruin the day.

I think George won the tourney with the heaviest fish a Blue Shark on the Blackjack.

We fished the JB Tackle Block Island Sharkfest this past Sunday and Monday. This was the second annual tournament and we fished both, this time aboard the new “Thunder”.

Over the past winter, I asked Capt. Bill Brown if he’d work this tourney with us when we were talking at his booth at the Hartford show. We spent time discussing the boat and shark fishing in general and the trip was on . As spring came along we talked some more, made plans and put together lists of tackle and items need for this tourney.

Deb and I set off Saturday to the pork chop with Bill and our crew of Ernie, Eric, Paul and my son-in-law, Ben ready for some sharking. The crew and I knew it would be an education and a great couple of days.

The start on Sunday was at 5:00 am at the breakwater. We tried to pick-up some live bait with a quick stop near the island but didn’t hook up with anything but a striper. So, with plenty of fresh bait onboard we set off for the first spot Bill picked on the chart. We set out the bucket and did our thing there for a awhile. The water and conditions looked okay but the life wasn’t quite there so we picked up and ran for some time to the next chosen spot.

The boat made good time getting us on the next location and we repeated the process of setting up and getting lines in. Now we had good water, temps, and bait; things were looking up. A short time went by before we were into the first fish, a Blue shark, Paul was up first and took care of bringing the first shark alongside for release on “Thunder”. Eric & Paul had another Blue or two, one which had been previously tagged. We promptly retrieved that tag and stuck a new one into the female. Deb brought in a small (her first) small Mako for a release for her birthday.

Then the excitement really started when a balloon went off and a shark broke the surface. There was no mistaken ID of a nice Thresher. Ben was up and onto the fish. Capt. Bill flat out said we were going to get this fish and he worked with Ben, the crew and me to make it happen. Ben put in his time and effort fighting the fight.

Bill offered a lot of coaching on working the boat and the fish over the hour and 45 minutes to get the fish to the lily and gaff. The fish hit the deck pouring out what seemed like gallons of blood and still picked up its head and thrashed around the back of the cockpit. The next I heard from the crew was a lot of whooping it up and Bill yelling out “get going to Block”.

We made the weigh station with about a half hour to spare and hung the Thresher at 188.5#.




It really looked heavier to us but the scale reading was what it was and everyone’s fish would have to hang on that same scale. No larger fish was weighed on Sunday and we went into the night to get some food and rest knowing we were in the lead but that it was tenuous.

Day 1 Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uocJH1NBsn4

The promised blow came on Monday and a reluctant crew poked it’s nose out to see what the conditions were. Everyone was tired and a little spent but Bill reminded us of why we were there and what could be done. The Henriques took on the sea conditions and the crew sucked it up and fished. It was snotty but not unsafe in the 38.

Day 2 Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLepNwnTEyY


We headed directly back to the spot we left the sharks the previous day. My comment to Bill, “ it was like we were approaching the drive-through window at the fast food joint”. We missed the spot on out first two drifts because of the strong wind but found paydirt on the third. The fish kept coming but just not the right ones. Paul took it personally, yelling "bring it on" and whopping every Blue shark on Monday by himself. We made the run back in a satisfied, tired, but better sharking crew, and headed to the awards to see how we did in the standings.

“Thunder” placed in the final standings with 3rd Tournament overall, 2nd largest Tournament Thresher, and did well in the Calcuttas with Largest Shark Day-One and largest Thresher.

We all had a great time and Bill offered up a lot of great tips and lessons not to mention his overall entertainment value. Ernie did more than his fair share manning the feed station and conjuring up the sharks over two days. The young guys put in the time on the rods working the fish. The Penn 50 and 70 VSW and 80 Reels all turned in flawless, solid, reliable performances. The TAJ Outdoors Custom Rods put their boots to the fish. Thanks to all, but especially to my wife Deb for making us upgrade to the new “Thunder”.

[tunaddiction]

Nice job on that Thresher!! Whats the recipe for that scampi? If we manage something other than a bluedog this year, that sure looked good.

Chumslick. A buddy of ours we fish with is a chef and was out with us that day, so I have no idea on the recipe. Delicious tasting though. He has a restaurant right off US 1 across from home depot in westerly. Casa della Luce is the name. Check it out if your looking for a delicious meal! See ya on the water.