Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
Distance is the key to winning the Ocracoke Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament, said the captain of this year’s winner.
Wading into the surf to cast their lines far out is what Greg O’Connell of the Jersey Rod & Reelers meant by distance.
They won the tournament by catching 11 scoreable bluefish with 320 points, which was 100 points ahead of the second-place winners, Island Life Realty Fishing Team, who had 230 points with 10 fish.
Third-place winners, the Beach Drummers, had 209 points with five fish.
Marking its 41st year, this tournament boasted 77 teams along Ocracoke beaches April 30 and May 1. Each team designates six members to fish with one alternate.
The teams come from Ocracoke and elsewhere in North Carolina and from Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.
In this catch-and-release tournament, fish caught must be of a certain length to merit a score.
“The secret is having young guys who can get way out in the water and throw far,” O’Connell said.
For this team from Mays Landing, New Jersey, it’s a family trip as the team comprises Greg, his two sons, his dad, his son’s godfather and his father.
In four timed sessions over two days, the teams are situated at spots along the beach from around Ramp 68 to South Point.
In one session, the Rod & Reelers had a spot close to South Point where they caught fish that totaled 200 points.
“That was basically enough to win,” O’Connell said.
His son Ryabn got the most fish for males, with six fish for 180 points.
“We had 11 fish as a team and six of them were from him,” O’Connell said about his son.
Praising this year’s event, tournament chair Candis George said there were 42 volunteer judges who measured the fish caught, which must be a minimum of 11 inches.
“There were bluefish caught up and down and drum,” she said before the awards ceremony began. “Everybody’s got something to talk about because there were so many fish caught.”
After 29 years of fishing with the Ocracoke Reel Rebels, this was Robbie Lewis’s first time he won anything.
Lewis captured the largest fish for males with a 37.5-inch bluefish he caught at station 33 off Ramp 70. It was three minutes after the session began.
Then, just before the closing bell, he caught another fish.
“He did it at the last second,” said Shanon Eiben, “just like the Cinderella story.”
After expenses, the tournament gives back to Ocracoke with scholarships to two graduating Ocracoke School seniors and to several nonprofits.
All results can be found online at https://oisft.com/standings/
