Mako Mania 2010 Tournament
Clarks Landing Marina, Pt. Pleasant, NJ
June 25, 2010 - June 27, 2010
INSIDE THE INSANITY
One thing stuck out in Tournament Director Capt. Peter Grimbilas's mind when I caught up with him to talk about the 25th Annual Mako Mania tournament: sharks.
Easy enough, right. I mean that's what this tournament's all about it. What else was he going to say?
But it was the number of sharks that were caught or caught and released that caught his attention.
"More than I've ever seen or heard caught in the 20 some years of the tournament," Grimbilas said. Tournament fishers reported a surprising variety of them, too: hammerhead, thresher, blue, dusky, mako and get this, a bull shark. Yeah, a bull shark. All told 271 boats anted up for the two-day weekend mako tournament but 268 actually fished. One boat dropped out and a couple more had last minute engine problems that kept them from participating, according to Grimbilas. Most boats, approximately 200, fished on Saturday, the first day, leaving a smaller pool of boats on Sunday. Those who fished on Sunday headed out knowing the shark to beat was a 301-pound mako landed on Saturday by Capt. Darren Berry of the Big Boy.
"I was standing on the bridge. When I saw it come across the transom I knew we had a nice shark," Capt. Berry said of the mako that would eventually win. The mako hit a whole mackerel fillet on a far balloon at 12:30 p.m. Deckhand Rudy Wilson fought the fish and the crew had it in the boat in 15 minutes.
When they got back to the scales at Clark's Landing in Point Pleasant the current mako to beat was 259 pounds landed by Capt. Dave Incorvaia and the crew of the Impulse."I had never been in that position before," Capt. Incorvaia said about leading the board. The Impulse hooked their mako up at 9:30 a.m. in the morning and after a 50 minute fight that included three aerial jumps by the mako, the highest estimated at 15 feet they had it tied off to the boat.
"We celebrated for a little while after we had the mako secured. Then, because the scales didn't open until 4 p.m. we trolled for tuna to kill some time and headed for the inlet at 1:30 p.m.," Capt. Incorvaia said.
The Impulse held first place briefly before the Big Boy put their shark on the board and the two flip-flopped positions. Both boats fished Sunday and the captains reported being a little nervous.
"I turned the radio down and tried not to listen," Berry said. Berry's 301-pound mako would hold up for the second day, however they weren't finished yet. Their remarkable tournament luck continued when they captured another place winning mako. This one weighed 236 pounds.
"It was 3:30 p.m. and I was planning to come in because of how far out we were when a shark hit a bait. There was white water and the rod sounded," Berry said. The mako took 15 minutes to land and they made it back to the inlet at 6:46 p.m. with just enough time to spare. The shark would take fifth place.
Capt. Incorvaia and the crew of the Impulse held onto 2nd place for most of Sunday. In fact, it would be another late afternoon mako boated by Capt. Dave Schunke of Insufishent Funds that would oust them and drop them to third.
Insufishent Funds, which had won the Brett Bailey Mako Rodeo the week before with a 385-pound mako, hooked up at 3:30 p.m. when a shark hit a rod set out with a bluefish fillet. This mako also put on an aerial display.
"I was on the tower and I knew it was going to happen. The mako was 20 yards from the boat when it leaped and was eye level with me," Capt. Schunke said.
The mako was 279 pounds and brought them second place.
Cash prizes were awarded to the top six mako sharks weighed in. The final results were as follows:
First Place: Big Boy, Capt. Darren Berry, 310 pounds, $35,644
Second Place: Insufishent Funds, Capt. Dave Schunke, 279 pounds, $17,682
Third Place: Impulse, Capt. Dave Incorvaia, 259 pounds, $8,911
Fourth Place: Luhred Away, Capt. Doug Thorsen, 239 pounds, $4,456
Fifth Place: Big Boy, Capt. Darren Berry, 236 pounds, $2,673
Sixth Place: Bella Mia, Capt. Brian Harter, 230 pounds, $1,1782
All six place winning mako were females. The total tally for weigh-ins was 34, up from last year's tourney that had 11. However, Grimbilas estimates the number of makos landed was higher.
"There were sharks that didn't come to the scales because they weren't going to place and more that were caught and released," Grimbilas said.
I was able to catch up with a couple captains who did not place and were willing to talk a little about the tournament. One boat, the American Mustang, with Capt. Peter Casagrande, had eight mako sharks and released five over three days of fishing both the Mako Mania and Mako Fever tournaments."We were out Friday through Sunday and once we found the fish we stayed within an 8- mile radius the entire weekend. We only moved the boat a couple times," said Greg Hueth, Sea Girt, who fished with Casagrande all three days. Heuth reported they also caught and released hammerhead, dusky, blue sharks and one bull shark that they estimated at 225 pounds. The key was finding an area with plenty of life.
"There was no temperature break. All the water was warm in the 70s. We found an area with plenty of bait, there were skipjacks and porpoises on the surface, and stayed there. A lot of people think of shark fishing as a waiting game but we were busy with fish the whole time,' Hueth said.
Another boat the Hello Dolly had two mako on at once.
"The first one jumped 30 feet from the boat then we realized we had another one on that came racing across the surface and crossed the line. I had to cut one loose and decided to let the one go we hadn't seen yet," Capt. Ed Skwara said.
Skwara ended up getting the jumper in and it weighed in at 203 pounds. The tournament wrapped up at an awards dinner at the Clark's Landing restaurant on Tuesday night.
"Another great tournament," Grimbilas said when he stood to take the microphone. Grimbilas introduced members of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association who ran the tournament, sponsors who helped make in happen and took time to talk about Reef Rescue, which is fighting to get commercial gear off artificial reefs that were funded with money by the recreational industry. Parts of the proceeds of Mako Mania go to artificial reef building.
Lastly, he got to the fun part, the awards.
"I love this part. Giving away the money to the winners," he said.
For a complete list of the final standings, plus photos from the 2010 Mako Mania, visit makomanianj.com
2010 MAKO MANIA
TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
The Winner for 2010 was:
The Big Boy - Captain Darren Berry 301 lbs.
2nd Place: Insufishent Funds - Captain Dave Schunke, 279 lbs.
3rd Place: Impulse - Captain David Incorvaia, 259 lbs.
4th Place: Luhred Offshore - Captain Doug Thorsen, 239 lbs.
5th Place: The Big Boy - Captain Darren Berry, 236 lbs
6th Place: Bella Mia - Captain Brian Harter, 230 lbs.
Other Qualified Entries
Tradition - Captain Stephen Mellett 225 lbs.
Tradition - Captain Stephen Mellett 215 lbs.
Indy II - Captain Lee Gamboni 205 lbs.
Clarks Landing Marina, Pt. Pleasant, NJ
June 25, 2010 - June 27, 2010
INSIDE THE INSANITY
By Dan Radel (Courtesy of the Asbury Park Press)
One thing stuck out in Tournament Director Capt. Peter Grimbilas's mind when I caught up with him to talk about the 25th Annual Mako Mania tournament: sharks.
Easy enough, right. I mean that's what this tournament's all about it. What else was he going to say?
But it was the number of sharks that were caught or caught and released that caught his attention.
"More than I've ever seen or heard caught in the 20 some years of the tournament," Grimbilas said. Tournament fishers reported a surprising variety of them, too: hammerhead, thresher, blue, dusky, mako and get this, a bull shark. Yeah, a bull shark. All told 271 boats anted up for the two-day weekend mako tournament but 268 actually fished. One boat dropped out and a couple more had last minute engine problems that kept them from participating, according to Grimbilas. Most boats, approximately 200, fished on Saturday, the first day, leaving a smaller pool of boats on Sunday. Those who fished on Sunday headed out knowing the shark to beat was a 301-pound mako landed on Saturday by Capt. Darren Berry of the Big Boy.
"I was standing on the bridge. When I saw it come across the transom I knew we had a nice shark," Capt. Berry said of the mako that would eventually win. The mako hit a whole mackerel fillet on a far balloon at 12:30 p.m. Deckhand Rudy Wilson fought the fish and the crew had it in the boat in 15 minutes.
When they got back to the scales at Clark's Landing in Point Pleasant the current mako to beat was 259 pounds landed by Capt. Dave Incorvaia and the crew of the Impulse."I had never been in that position before," Capt. Incorvaia said about leading the board. The Impulse hooked their mako up at 9:30 a.m. in the morning and after a 50 minute fight that included three aerial jumps by the mako, the highest estimated at 15 feet they had it tied off to the boat.
"We celebrated for a little while after we had the mako secured. Then, because the scales didn't open until 4 p.m. we trolled for tuna to kill some time and headed for the inlet at 1:30 p.m.," Capt. Incorvaia said.
The Impulse held first place briefly before the Big Boy put their shark on the board and the two flip-flopped positions. Both boats fished Sunday and the captains reported being a little nervous.
"I turned the radio down and tried not to listen," Berry said. Berry's 301-pound mako would hold up for the second day, however they weren't finished yet. Their remarkable tournament luck continued when they captured another place winning mako. This one weighed 236 pounds.
"It was 3:30 p.m. and I was planning to come in because of how far out we were when a shark hit a bait. There was white water and the rod sounded," Berry said. The mako took 15 minutes to land and they made it back to the inlet at 6:46 p.m. with just enough time to spare. The shark would take fifth place.
Capt. Incorvaia and the crew of the Impulse held onto 2nd place for most of Sunday. In fact, it would be another late afternoon mako boated by Capt. Dave Schunke of Insufishent Funds that would oust them and drop them to third.
Insufishent Funds, which had won the Brett Bailey Mako Rodeo the week before with a 385-pound mako, hooked up at 3:30 p.m. when a shark hit a rod set out with a bluefish fillet. This mako also put on an aerial display.
"I was on the tower and I knew it was going to happen. The mako was 20 yards from the boat when it leaped and was eye level with me," Capt. Schunke said.
The mako was 279 pounds and brought them second place.
Cash prizes were awarded to the top six mako sharks weighed in. The final results were as follows:
First Place: Big Boy, Capt. Darren Berry, 310 pounds, $35,644
Second Place: Insufishent Funds, Capt. Dave Schunke, 279 pounds, $17,682
Third Place: Impulse, Capt. Dave Incorvaia, 259 pounds, $8,911
Fourth Place: Luhred Away, Capt. Doug Thorsen, 239 pounds, $4,456
Fifth Place: Big Boy, Capt. Darren Berry, 236 pounds, $2,673
Sixth Place: Bella Mia, Capt. Brian Harter, 230 pounds, $1,1782
All six place winning mako were females. The total tally for weigh-ins was 34, up from last year's tourney that had 11. However, Grimbilas estimates the number of makos landed was higher.
"There were sharks that didn't come to the scales because they weren't going to place and more that were caught and released," Grimbilas said.
I was able to catch up with a couple captains who did not place and were willing to talk a little about the tournament. One boat, the American Mustang, with Capt. Peter Casagrande, had eight mako sharks and released five over three days of fishing both the Mako Mania and Mako Fever tournaments."We were out Friday through Sunday and once we found the fish we stayed within an 8- mile radius the entire weekend. We only moved the boat a couple times," said Greg Hueth, Sea Girt, who fished with Casagrande all three days. Heuth reported they also caught and released hammerhead, dusky, blue sharks and one bull shark that they estimated at 225 pounds. The key was finding an area with plenty of life.
"There was no temperature break. All the water was warm in the 70s. We found an area with plenty of bait, there were skipjacks and porpoises on the surface, and stayed there. A lot of people think of shark fishing as a waiting game but we were busy with fish the whole time,' Hueth said.
Another boat the Hello Dolly had two mako on at once.
"The first one jumped 30 feet from the boat then we realized we had another one on that came racing across the surface and crossed the line. I had to cut one loose and decided to let the one go we hadn't seen yet," Capt. Ed Skwara said.
Skwara ended up getting the jumper in and it weighed in at 203 pounds. The tournament wrapped up at an awards dinner at the Clark's Landing restaurant on Tuesday night.
"Another great tournament," Grimbilas said when he stood to take the microphone. Grimbilas introduced members of the Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association who ran the tournament, sponsors who helped make in happen and took time to talk about Reef Rescue, which is fighting to get commercial gear off artificial reefs that were funded with money by the recreational industry. Parts of the proceeds of Mako Mania go to artificial reef building.
Lastly, he got to the fun part, the awards.
"I love this part. Giving away the money to the winners," he said.
For a complete list of the final standings, plus photos from the 2010 Mako Mania, visit makomanianj.com
2010 MAKO MANIA
TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
The Winner for 2010 was:
The Big Boy - Captain Darren Berry 301 lbs.
2nd Place: Insufishent Funds - Captain Dave Schunke, 279 lbs.
3rd Place: Impulse - Captain David Incorvaia, 259 lbs.
4th Place: Luhred Offshore - Captain Doug Thorsen, 239 lbs.
5th Place: The Big Boy - Captain Darren Berry, 236 lbs
6th Place: Bella Mia - Captain Brian Harter, 230 lbs.
Other Qualified Entries
Tradition - Captain Stephen Mellett 225 lbs.
Tradition - Captain Stephen Mellett 215 lbs.
Indy II - Captain Lee Gamboni 205 lbs.