Last weekend from September 29 - October 1, My Fishing Cape Cod held our third annual surfcasting tournament. This year we called it "The 36 Hour Grind".
It was quite the weekend weather-wise, with wind gusts up to 40, rain and chilly temperatures. However that didn't stop anglers from giving it their all, fishing any chance they could get, and as the name of the tournament suggest - grinding it out!
Friday September 29 - Tournament Kickoff
Things got started Friday at 5pm with a tournament kickoff pizza party at Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable.
It was a breezy and cool experience on the beach, with a constant looming threat of downpours.
Nevertheless we had a solid group of diehards show up!
We all chatted about fishing (big surprise I know) and I learned a lot about the participants strategies and thoughts on where and how the biggest bass would be caught.
Ryan also gave away a bunch of free raffle prizes to the folks who showed up.
At 7pm each team of two anglers went their separate ways as they began their 36 hour hunt for their three biggest striped bass.
Saturday September 30th
The way the tournament worked, was that each team of two anglers measured their three largest bass. Whatever team had the most total inches by 7am on Sunday October 1st would be the winner.
By mid-day on Saturday reports started coming in with the top teams reporting totals of 70-105 inches. Nevertheless there was still plenty of time for other teams to catch up.
Clinton Spaulding with one of his biggest fish. Clinton's partner, Carle Hildreth of No Slack! Sportfishing was a sponsor of the event.
Carol Girard-Irwin and Jean Lapiene didn't catch any "monsters" but they did manage over 50 bass from the beaches of Cape Cod Bay!
By Saturday Kevin Touhey (pictured here) and his teammate Eric Cronin had a total of 94 inches, which put them at the top of the leaderboard.
Val Pinkhasov and Kyle Cannistrato were catching fish in the 35" range with consistency, putting them in the running for 1st place.
I myself did some surfcasting Saturday night in the cold rain and 40 knot winds.
All I have to say is fishing in conditions like that is not for the faint of heart!
I felt like a novice going down a black diamond trail. I was pelted by rain and sand, and battled wind knots the entire time.
It was an experience to say the least.
Awards - Sunday October 1st
On Sunday morning at 8am a bunch of the participants gathered once again at Sandy Neck for the awards.
It was another nice opportunity for everyone to get together.
There ended up being some really big fish caught during the tournament with the winning team landing a monster 46 incher!
Here are your top 3 teams for this year's 36 Hour Grind Tournament.
Taking 1st place with a total of 118" is Kevin Johndrow and Jay Linscott
Coming in 2nd place with a total of 110" is Val Pinkhasov & Kyle Cannistrato.
3rd place went to Noah & Josh Ezickson with a total of 105"
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 36 Hour Grind Surfcasting Tournament!
Special thank you to Carle Hildreth of No Slack Charters for providing pizza for everyone on Friday.
And special thanks to Tom Howie of Plymouth Coffee Company for providing our very own special 36 Hour Grind blend of coffee!
Tom Howie (left), owner of Plymouth Coffee Co, provided the coffee for Sunday. Also pictured is Jeff Richard (center) and Walter Kay (right)
Our unique Surfcasters Tournament Blend Coffee is available for purchase! Click here to learn more and order a bag.
Clinton Spaulding (left) Carle Hildreth (center) and Tom Simpson (right)
It was fun seeing some of you at last weekend's tournament and Ryan and I are looking forward to the next one.
Keep an eye out for more events coming up this winter, as well as tournaments and meetups set to be scheduled for the 2024 season!
Was a great get together. Thank you @admin and @Lauren_Collins. Nice to chat at the end. Hope all of you are measuring cows and staying dry 🤣
Well … my 1st dedicated fishing adventure of the year … thank you Ryan, Mike and everyone who put this together. I’m finally drying out after some serious soaking. My diehard partner Walter @wkay_newport and I did not register much in the trophy class … if you are observant you’ll have noticed it was the young bucks who scored the big ladies of the waves. I’m guessing 2/3 of the groups were relatively skunked, and 1/3 ran into some big girls. Not surprising as the length of the tournament and the scope of the possible sites really required dedication to put in a whole bunch of time in the rain and wind, and a lot of luck in picking the hot spots. It was really difficult to get out Sat night after fishing all day in the rain … sushi, beer and a fire won out after 7 pm. Of course the bigger fish were caught in the wee hours of the morning.
We only caught 5 stripers and several blues, and all below slot. Didn’t help that we (ok, me) left the measuring tape in the car when we scored our only noteworthy striper.
Great weekend despite the weather, looking forward to next year.
One rule-change suggestion … winners have to give up their spots upon accepting their prizes 😉
We’ll be buried with our spots and people will still find them haha
Without the 46” taken by @jaylin, our bag might not have made the podium.
Awesome! So sad I couldn’t make it – looks like the weather let us at just the right times.
Was that an Eelman siting? Really bummed I missed my fellow beach Boy member!
Looking forward to the next gathering!
Until then tight lines and congrats to all the winners 🏆,
Tim, MABeerBrewer
Looks like a huge success! Sorry I missed it. Sign me up for next year. The 36 hour time frame is great for us night time surfcasters. Love the tournament name tie in with the Plymouth Coffee Co. special edition name!
Great write up Lauren! Looks like you caught some nice fish too! Congratulations to all that participated! What a great event!
As a fair weather fisherman, my congratulations to all that attended or participated and to Ryan & Lauren for sharing the experience with everyone! Also, WOW to the winners & the teams that brought in all those nice bass!