In July, The East Hampton Sportsmen’s Alliance entered its first ever boat in the Montauk Grand Slam fishing tournament, which takes place annually over two days.  Twenty eight crews competed to land the highest combined weight of four species – Sea Bass, Fluke, Bluefish and Porgy –  in pursuit of an $8,000 prize and 364 days of bragging rights.  The Alliance sponsored the boat’s entry fee, with any winnings to be split between EHSA, as a fundraiser, and the fishermen.   

Captain Patrick Furlong was lauded for putting into service his newly re-powered boat, the Golden Goose, and for being game to navigate far and wide in pursuit of Grand Slam glory.  The other two EHSA crew members were Peter Van Scoyoc and David Yonke.

The crew fished hard in what was a fun, but grueling two-day event.  Most competing entries had larger boats and crews, with eight or more lines in the water, compared to EHSA’s three.  By landing all four species, a feat that only about half of the boats pulled off,  and finishing in the middle of the pack at the final weigh in, the EHSA boat punched above its weight. 

Fishing twenty-two hours over a two-day period, the team traveled nearly 50 miles to near-off-shore locations from Cartwright and the Frisbees to Submarine Buoy to Cerberus and everywhere in-between. The team managed to land nice Fluke and Porgies bottom fishing high-low rigs with clams, squid and artificial lures on the first day, but struggled to find bluefish and sizable sea bass (although 50+ fish were caught). On day two the team was able to locate a pocket of legal sea bass, finally putting a ~2 pound fish in the boat Sunday morning. With three of the four species in the bag, EHSA turned to trolling for the thus-far elusive bluefish. Finally, about two hours before the tournament end, the Alliance crew put a size-challenged 1.1 lb Blue in the boat, completing the four species Grand Slam.  Other species caught over the weekend ranged from lizardfish and sea robin (which served as excellent bait) to rays, sharks and mackerel.

We count a good number of experienced fishermen amongst the ranks of EHSA members and are looking for added support next year for Patrick, Peter and David in next year’s effort.