Pine Island Big Fin Shark Tournament returns after 10 years
Ernestine Squires said the biggest reason to bring back the shark tournament after a decade is her’s and everyone else’s love for it, as well as their love for sharks, she said.
“This is a fun, no frills tournament. We don’t have the prizes, the raffles or anything — it’s not a big to-do. It’s just fun shark-fishing with our two biggest sharks,” Squires said, adding that was also a mystery fish.
The entry fee was $100 per angler and payout on the sharks will be $1,000 for the bull shark and $1,000 for the blacktip shark, she said. There was no age-limit to fish and there are no divisions in this event. How it works, she explained, is beginning with a state regulated 5-foot minimum on the bull shark, and a 4-foot minimum on the blacktip shark.
“This is something we do for fun and, of course, we raise money to help the community, but it’s more of fun thing,” Squires said.
From tournament officials: “We had three sharks weighed in, two by team Maxed Out Charters and one team G Money Fishing. The winning sharks were a 7-foot-2 1/2-inch bull shark and a 4-foot-4 3/4-inch blacktop.
“Congratulations to all 47 boats for participating and congratulations to both our winners. Team Maxed Out Charters also weighed in the first bull that measured 62 inches. He went back out and topped himself to take the win!”
Having grown up out here, she explained, likely shaped her opinion on night-fishing, as an ultimate outdoor family activity. Everyone likes to catch sharks, she said, describing it as a “family thing.”
“You go out. You take subs and drinks and blankets and you go catch the big shark. It’s just so much fun. How it works is we have a mandatory 4 p.m. captains meeting at Jug Creek. We will have burgers and fries and the anglers can go fish immediately after we read the rules. When an angler catches a shark, they call in,” Squires said, explaining some tournament rules.
If an angler reports having caught a 5.5-foot bull shark, for example, tournament officials let the angler know whether that size shark has already been accounted for or whether it may be brought in. In this example, if there is already a bigger bull shark, the angler would be instructed to release the one they’ve caught and keep fishing for a bigger bull shark.
“This way, everyone is not bringing in all these sharks that they catch. We don’t have a lot of sharks brought in, but hopefully they keep the meat. The meat can be kept on ice and we donate to the soup kitchen, so it’s a win-win. It’s fun, we feed people, we raise some money,” Squires said.
In keeping with Shark Week, the movie “Jaws” was played on the Dooper Dold Titan Pontoon Jumbotron at Jug Creek Marina Saturday night at sunset. This event, which purposefully overlapped with the Pine Island Big Fin Shark Tournament, was called, “movie under the stars.” People were welcome to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and whatever they felt might be necessary for comfort, she said.
“We say every year that we’re going to bring back the shark tournament and then — the summer, vacations — everybody’s just busy, so I thought, if we’re going to do this, we need to do it now, during Shark Week,” Squires said.
“Thank you to everyone who helped and sponsored- see you next year!” Tournament officials said.