Wow!! What are wonderful May we had out on the water fishing!! And there is a lot going on in our club. Our turtle sign is up and working. Click here to see an article in the OC Sentinel: Sign of the Times: It’s Turtle Breeding Season
Big Thanks to Carol Ferguson and all those who came out to plant milkweed! We attracted some attention with that project, see the nice article in the Ocean City Sentinel. Let’s hope we also attract those Monarch butterflies!! SFEC volunteers plant milkweed to help aid monarch population
On Friday May 11 & Saturday May 12 the SFEC held the Annual Surf Fishing Tournament. The weather cooperated and so did the fish as several were caught. In all, the Tournament had 26 Adults fishing along with two youngsters. We had a very good crowd at the Firehouse for the presentation of Awards and to enjoy a great selection of sandwiches and salads from “The Old Shack” on Commonwealth Avenue; thanks to Stephanie Muller for her efforts and a tasty dinner. The Club would also like to thank Boulevard Bait & Tackle, Sea Isle Bait & Tackle, and Whale Creek Marina for being our very generous sponsors and helping make this event possible. We encourage all of our members to please patronize these local businesses.
We also want to thank Randy Roash for once again organizing and leading this annual event. There were three entries for the SFEC $100 Prize for the first “Keeper” Striped Bass of 2018. Bud Lyon registered a fish at 1 PM on Friday; also entering Bass were Jimmy Cannon at 3 PM and Darren Kier at 8 PM on Friday. However, Bud was the winner on the Clock! Congrats to Bud! Randy commented that it was very promising that several “short” Striped Bass were caught; this could be a good sign for the near future. In addition a few small Black Drum as well as some Bluefish were also landed on the beach. Congratulations to all of our Winners and we thank everyone who fished and all who attended our Awards Dinner!!
Surf Fishing Awards
Released Striped Bass Award – Nearly 27 inches –John Carmichael
First Place –Scott Cannon – 10.55 lb. – Bluefish
Second Place – Jim Cannon – 8.94 lb. – Striped Bass
Third Place – Bud Lyon – 7.8 lb. Striped Bass – Bud also won $100.00 for the first
keeper Bass of the year.
On Saturday May 26th, the Hollinger Family generously kicked off the 2018 Flounder season with their annual Herb Hollinger, Sr. Flounder Tournament! What a great day of fishing! Following the weigh in awards were presented to those listed below. See some Photos below.
Kids
First Place: Kaylin Shimp 2.3 lbs.
Second Place: Bella Penzone 2.06 lbs.
Third Place: Joe Coffey 2.05 lbs.
Women
First Place: Chris Stafford 3.08 lbs.
Second Place: Jan Hollinger 3.07 lbs.
Third Place: Nancy Cunningham 2.95l bs.
Men
First Place: Dave Kupek 3.29 lbs.
Second Place: Steve Burin 3.24 lbs.
Third Place: Frank Jankowski 3.05 lbs.
Overall Winner
Brian Overstreet 3.5 lbs.
In addition to a great fishing, food, and fun that evening, Randy Roash and Herb Hollinger presented laminated charts of the OC & TI Reef (Ocean City and Townsend Inlet) projects. These informative charts are designed to direct your vessel onto this artificial structure during your next reef fishing trip. Captain David Hollinger helped to archive our reef projects through these charts and make them simple to use. The most recent SFEC-sponsored reef project, included 6 barge deployments of quarried rock in memory of Herb Hollinger, Sr. Each deployment was 40-plus metric tons on rock that created the Herb Hollinger, Sr. Ridge-lines on the OC & TI Reefs. This most recent reef program was made possible by the Hollinger family & the SFEC. With this deployment, the SFEC reef program now totals 13 deployments of material on both the OC & TI Reefs. These deployments, in a large part, have been made possible by over $45,000 in donations to The SFEC from families and other organizations specifically earmarked for Reef Building. Members may contact our web master or attend a meeting for a free copy of your SFEC Reef Chart.
We owe a huge THANKS to the Hollinger Family for all their contributions to the club and our Reef program. Also Thanks to Randy Roash for all he does to coordinate and oversee the various Artificial Reef projects.
Summer Flounder Tournament – June 2
The rain didn’t show up, but the gnats did!! Fortunately with the lack of cooperation from the weather reports, we still had 26 men, 5 women and 2 children signed up to fish in the 2018 Summer Flounder Tournament. Thanks to Cara and Buck Buckland for running the tournament this year. They did an awesome job during a very busy time for them. Always great to have new members helping out!!
Overall award for 3 heaviest fish: Herb Hollinger with 7.23 lbs. of flounder !!
Men’s
1st Place – Santos Gomez – 4.57 lb
2nd Place – Brian Hollinger – 3.57 lb
3rd Place – Joe Callahan – 3.17 lb
Women’s
1st Place – Jan Hollinger – 3.72 lb
2nd Place – Sallie Callahan – 2.73 lb
3rd Place – Candy Jankowski – 2.51