OCEAN CITY — After a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ocean City Fishing Club’s annual Boys & Girls Surf Fishing Tournament returned Aug. 13 with a beach packed with avid young anglers and their families.
About 110 boys and girls participated this year, just shy of the 115 who entered the tournament when it was last held in 2019. With family and friends attending to support their young anglers, the beach quickly filled with about 400 people, fishing and observing.
“The weather certainly helped the turnout,” said Ed Hoban, who runs the annual tournament for OCFC. “We really didn’t know how many kids to expect after we postponed the tournament for two years, but this strong turnout is just great.”
Under clear blue skies with a mild breeze that kept temperatures moderate for August, the children, ranging in age from 8 to 16 years old, took up positions on the north end beach at the foot of the Ocean City-Longport Bridge and fished from 10 a.m. to noon.
When the fishing concluded, they caught a total of 61 fish in two hours. Everyone who entered the tournament received prizes that included gift cards and certificates from boardwalk, downtown and area businesses. In addition, OCFC members contributed gift cards that they purchased for the tournament to add to what the boys and girls received.
Although the number of fish caught fell far short of the 136 landed in the last youth tournament here, enthusiasm and hope ran high throughout the morning event. It was common to see boys and girls quizzing those who caught fish about the type of bait used and everyone got excited to see their nearby angling neighbors hook and land a fish.
The two who landed the most fish were Hunter Erazmus, 15, of Morrisville, Pa., who landed five, and Katie Smiley, 16, also from Pennsylvania, who caught eight. They each received a $300 certificate from Century Rods.
Katie also took honors along with George Shimp, 13, of Wilmington, Del., for catching the largest fish overall in the girls and boys groups, respectively. Katie landed a 16-inch flounder, while George, who caught the largest fish by a boy in the 2019 tournament, was a repeat winner with a 17-inch flounder this year. They took home brand new Penn rod and reel outfits from Fin-Atics, a local bait and tackle shop on West Avenue.
In the 8-10 age group, James D’Agostino, 8, of Ocean City, and Dalton Heisley, 10, of Mansfield, Pa., won new Penn rods and reels from Fin-Atics, as did Anthony Cerne, 13, of Philadelphia, and Nicholas Seeds, 12, of Ocean City in the 11-13 age category.
In addition to fluke, the youngsters landed a variety of fish, including sea robin, sand sharks, kingfish, sea bass, spot and skate. A few first-time tournament entrants like Bobby Kemp, 13, from Potomac, Md., were surprised to land a skate.
“It was really heavy pulling it in,” he said. “And it was pretty ugly, too!”
Farther down the beach, Christian Edginton, 8, of Malvern, Pa., another tournament novice, busied himself with carefully dislodging his hook from a sea robin, known for sharp, spiked barbs on its head and wing-like fins. “I don’t want to get stuck,” he said, a bit anxiously.
Quinn Kerwin, 12, of Haddonfield, already has fishing experience under his belt, having learned about angling from his grandfather, U.S. Navy Admiral (Retired) Ron Denney, a former member of the Ocean City Council.
“I learned a lot from my grandfather and fished from his dock on the bay when I first started,” Quinn said, after landing an 11-inch kingfish in the tournament. Though still a young angler, he counts one day recently as his best day fishing ever.
“It was in the surf at 16th Street,” he recalled. “I caught 50 fish in one day — combination of croaker, spot and kingfish. I also learned a lot about fishing from Justin at Fin-Atics. He knows so much — he’s awesome!”
Fishing club volunteers had the youngsters’ parents or guardians sign waivers for insurance purposes and register the boys and girls. Some club members also manned the beach with measuring devices to record sizes of the fish the youngsters caught. Others also helped the younger anglers cast, gave fishing advice to those who were novices and tabulated results when the tournament ended.
“It takes a lot to put on a tournament like this,” Hoban said. “We’re fortunate to have club members volunteer their time and effort to make this tournament a success. It’s all about the kids and making sure they have a good time. And it’s great to see it come back after a two-year absence.”
The fishing tournament was held in cooperation with the Ocean City Department of Recreation.
Founded in 1913, the Ocean City Fishing Club is the oldest, continuously operated fishing club in the nation.