Leonardo Fluke Tournament Sponsored by NJfishing.com

[Katie'sKatch]

Congratulations to all the winners today
I had a great day fishing with my wife & Gandfather
Only had 3 for the box today 2@ 2# & 1@ 3#

[Life's A Beach]

TNT

Bobber, Motorhead Anthony and I started fishing @ 6:30 and it was SLOW pickings.

We bounced around out East then around 10 made a move. Nothing really paid off and we're still looking for that big "topper" fish.

Finished the day CATCHING 30 keepers, 40+ shorts, a ling and a couple Ocean Fillet Mignons; We KEPT 15 fluke, the ling and the sea robins....YUM!

Our 3 largest were just over 15 so once we encountered the bumper boats and then heard the weights, coupled with what we had been told by fellow fisherman.........we headed to the barn to clean fish and the boat!

Congrats to winners!

That marina is a farce although the Committee did a yeoman's job considering what they had to work with. Great door prizes and accurate weights given over the radio all afternoon long on a REAL radio.

Gerry,

First thanks for all the effort and hard work to everyone involved running the tournament, especially considering the postponement to Sunday.

We ran out of SRI and had lines in the water at 6:30. Headed north and had a decent pick of fish, with many 21 to 22 in. fish mixed in and an occasional 24 incher. Water quality in that area was extremely clear. Wind / tide crapped out and we headed further north to find the right fish but to no avail. The further north we went, the more stained the water was but all spots fished short of one we found decent amounts of fluke. We ended up keeping only 13 keepers for the three of us fishing and honestly probably threw back 20 keepers and god only knows how many shorts. Will post a pic later of keepers. We ended up weighing in our three fish at 15.9 lbs, not enough to stand on the podium! After weighing in, we made the long trek home to SRI as the south wind started cranking but the Grady handles head seas very well so the ride back wasn't too bad.

As Lab said, that marina is a trip. Wouldn't want to call that port home especially with outboards. The water was filthy, we were stopped by the Earle Seal Team on the way in even though we were outside the markers (albeit just barely) and there is virtually no room to maneuver. All things considered the tournament did their best to deal with difficult accommodations so I again applaud their efforts.

For future tournaments, it wouldn't be a bad idea like the JCSA did this year to allow fish to be weighed in at tackle shops at various ports. I know that tournament this year had their best year as far as number of entrants and I would think that not having to start at Leonardo and being able to weigh in at other ports or tackle shops in the respective areas would greatly increase the number of boats entering. We had a great time fishing the tournament yesterday but if there were an alternative to the amount of time running all the way around the hook and inside to Leonardo Marina and the amount of additional gas burned at $4.15 a gallon, it would certainly make the tournament more attractive to enter and make the day more enjoyable. The same holds true for all tournaments run. I guess the only draw back is coordinating the results. Under that weigh in scenario, I would think the ultimate winner wouldn't be known until the next day but that shouldn't prevent having the after tournament festivities the same day if that were an issue to the Committee. Either way, just something for the tournament powers to consider for future years. I would have to think it would make a huge difference in number of boats entered, especially for the boats which sail from southern ports and have to deal with the long run back typically into the hard south wind that normally comes on in the afternoon this time of year.

Congratulations to all of yesterday's winners and thanks again for all the people who make these events possible. Their efforts tend to be taken for granted but we appreciate all you do so we have these events to add to the excitement of fishing the weekends.

Dakota

[Gerry Zagorski]

Lab and Dakota - Thanks for fishing the tournament and the feedback. Yes, the marina is tight to begin with and adding a bunch of boats into the mix certainly makes it challenging as does working around the tides because of the shoaling issue we have. As mentioned, we tried our best to work with what we had and I can assure you the Commitee will consider all the input for future tournaments.

If anyone else has any feedback, good, bad or indifferent please let us know.

[Life's A Beach]

Originally Posted by Gerry Zagorski

Lab and Dakota - Thanks for fishing the tournament and the feedback. Yes, the marina is tight to begin with and adding a bunch of boats into the mix certainly makes it challenging as does working around the tides because of the shoaling issue we have. As mentioned, we tried our best to work with what we had and I can assure you the Commitee will consider all the input for future tournaments.

If anyone else has any feedback, good, bad or indifferent please let us know.

"Current standing - 19.5, 17.5, 16.5; calcutta leader 8.0" Clear and concise and let's those that are considering driving into the marina make an informed decision.

Besides that.....A GREAT re-start to a long standing tournament.

BTW ........how'd Team Old School do?????

[Gerry Zagorski]

Well folks, it's a wrap. Congratulations to all the winners, thanks to all who fished with us, our sponsors for donating a treasure chest of amazing door prizes and all of the LPPBA people who organized and staffed the event.

Here are the official results:
- First place went to "And Stephanie Too" with a combined weight of 19.74. Anglers were Jim Starek, Frank Fischler, Joe Fischler and Dennis Isenburg
- Second place went to "Kelly Ann" with a combined weight of 17.54. Anglers were Vito Manzi, Max Dall'Orso and Anthony Belisario
- Third place went to "Old Betsey" with a combined weight of 17.26. Anglers were Dave Lilly, Jeremy Lilly, Mako Al Pullman and Leon Russomano
- Largest single fish was 9.32 which was caught on "Thunder Cloud" by Ed Grant Jr from Leonardo NJ.

Hope to see you all next year!!

Pictures courtsey of our staff reporter Mrs Z.

[Gerry Zagorski]

More pics....

[fin_s_guy]

Was originally going to enter my boat with a couple board members (DMac and Carl) but after the postponement and predicted wave heights decided to bag it and fish my boat for fun....until my phone rang late Saturday afternoon. The "Bates" boat had an opening and offered me the invite. Battling 4-5' waves solo probably wouldn't have been fun, so I took them up on the offer.

Arrived at the boat at 5:00 with the idea of a 5:30 departure. Funny how plans change. Boat was still on the rack and wasn't coming down until after 8:00. Time to go and eat like a gentleman! Haha!! Ran to Atlantic Highlands and had a sit down breakfast with a couple cups of Joe (and a cup of gai). Bwahaha!

Back to the boat and another hour we were on our way. Still a healthy swell out there, but the cuddy on the Grady plowed right through at 30mph. Again I found myself glad I wasn't on my boat. Set up deep without too much of a drift so bumped inshore. Bob B started us off with a 5# fish and I followed up with one close to it on spinning 1oz tackle. Tons of life but no more size. Headed back out deep with a few more fish, but no size. Made the call to run North and set up shop. Worked a nice line and was rewarded with a close to 7# fish boated by Al.

Called it and ran back in to weigh with 16.38#'s. Good enough for second at 4:00...but the row of boats with good fishermen behind us had us doubting our place in line. When we heard the top fish went from 8 to almost 9 1/2, we knew we were done.

Late start with a limit plus, and "could have been a contender" position for a bit was a strong effort. Had a good time and was glad I could contribute in some way. Thanks for the invite fellas!

Congrats to all who weighed in and finished in the dough!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Team "Angry Beaver" had a tough day of fishing but we did have fun. Our fearless leader Jimmy the River Rat, brother Joe, Joe the Blackfish Killer and myself.

Left the South River Boat Club dock at 5:30 and steamed out the bay, around the hook and set up down the beach in the sticky stuff. River Rat put on a bucktailing clinic taking the Yo Dollah Dollah and catching most of our fish. Waded through a bunch of shorts and probably finished up with 6 or so keepers donating our share of tackle.

Wind was for the most part light and variable which made repeating the same drift difficult, since it changed directions frequently. Very slooooooow drifts for the most part. We ran inside, outside and in between looking for the right one.

Came into the scales early and had first place to ourselves for a few hours until the other boats came in Our combined weight was 8.80 and biggest fish was 3 and change.

Fun times for sure and thanks once again Jimmy for hosting our crew on the Angry Beaver.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Good seeing you, Bob and Team Bates at the scale Boooooby. An impressive load of fish you guys had especially with the late start.