Tidelines – August 13, 2015
We’ve had a vision here at Fisherman’s Post these last few years, but we haven’t been sure that anyone else outside Fisherman’s Post shared that vision until just last weekend.
For the past two years we’ve tried to stage a spanish mackerel fishing tournament that was based on strongly supporting youth anglers. Our thought was that spanish fishing is easy (most everyone can troll a spoon and catch a fish) and accessible (doesn’t take a big boat and you can find fish right outside an inlet and/or along the beach), so it lends itself to getting more kids fishing.
Unfortunately, in each of the first two years of the event we didn’t manage to attract more than 20 boats or more than a total of a dozen anglers under the age of 17, so we started to question whether or not our vision had any legs. Then this year the event apparently took hold, attracting more than 40 boats with over 40 kids on board fishing in the event.
We attribute a large part of the attendance boom to moving the event up earlier in the calendar year. In the first two years we staged the event in late September, and late September—as we know on the Carolina coast—is subject to hurricane and tropical storm influences. Even when the path of an early fall storm doesn’t come very close to our shoreline, its effects still stir up the wind and seas and make fishing just about anywhere undesirable.
We moved the event up to the first weekend in August, and moving the event to early August not only got us further away from tropical storms and hurricanes, but it also got the event in before grade schools start back up. As a parent, I’m all too familiar with how busy the weekend calendar fills up once K-9 school starts—soccer and baseball practices and games, dance, cub scouts, etc.
Of the 40 kids that fished with us this year, 28 of them weighed in, so here on my Tidelines page I want to use a lot of my space to feature photos of the three different youth divisions in this year’s Wide Open Tech Spanish Mackerel Open.
All of the kids pictured were individually brought up on stage to receive their SMO medals and prize packs (thanks to such sponsors as Wide Open Tech, East Coast Sports, Blue Water Candy, Pure Fishing, and others). Then after receiving a strong round of applause, they were asked to stay put for a group photo. Our hope is that these photo appearances in Fisherman’s Post further prompts their love of fishing—the main purpose behind the Spanish Mackerel Open.
There was one other round of youth angler-centered applause at the awards ceremony that I’d like to mention, but it went to an adult. Though there wasn’t a prize or an award offered, Mark Bufalini would have took top honors had there been a category for the team with the most junior anglers on board. He and his boat were responsible for taking seven kids under the age of twelve fishing on Sunday of the event—Nico, Emma, Joula, Abby, Ryon, Olivia, and Isabella.
It isn’t in my power, but I hereby award Mark Bufalini with a quiet afternoon on the couch, remote control in hand, unbothered by any children (or any responsibilities at all for that matter).
And if Mark happens to make this imaginary award a reality, then I expect a lot more boats next year with numerous junior anglers on board. I may even book the “Vonda Kay” head boat to take about 20 kids fishing if it gets me a quiet house for the afternoon.
