Well, it’s starting to get busy in the office now that we are getting closer to the tournament. Entries are starting to come in on a steady basis. As you know, the tournament is Saturday, August 1st and if you enter by July 20th you qualify for the $25,000 Big Fluke Prize. Catch the largest fluke over 12lbs by at least 1/100 of a pound and you will win the $25,000 prize. We’ve had some 14 pounders weighed in in the past. In last year’s tournament we had some 11 plus pounders weighed in. I know there has already been a 14 pounder caught so it is not impossible to do. Also don’t forget the calcuttas that we put in this year. We have a $50.00 and $100.00 calcutta for each port and we have a $50.00 and $100.00 calcutta for the overall tournament. Some guys are joining all four calcuttas. The cost for that if you total up the entry fee and all four calcuttas is $425.00. Remember, we will pay out 7/8ths of the money to each calcutta category. JCAA will retain 1/8th of the money to help us fund our expenses of running our office and other expenses for what we do on behalf of recreational fishermen.
The Tournament this year will be held on Saturday, August 1st and our awards presentations will be held on the evening of Wednesday, August 12th again at the Holiday Inn in Manahawkin (Stafford Township), NJ. If we have a hurricane on August 1st we will hold the tournament on August 8th. Otherwise, we fish rain or shine.
Remember, this tournament is a major fundraiser for JCAA and keeps us going year after year to do what we do on behalf of you, the recreational angler. A lot of volunteers put in a lot of time and a lot of their own money to do what we do not only on behalf of the recreational angler, but also the environment, youth education, access, etc.
Also new for this year will be vendor booths at our awards presentations for our major sponsors.
Again, this year we will be offering in a Grand Prize Drawing a boat, motor & trailer package. Remember, you do not have to weigh in a fish to be eligible to win the Grand Prize. You just have to be registered in the tournament and be present the night of the awards presentations on the evening of Wednesday, August 12th. And as always there will be thousands of dollars in door prizes given out also. There will also be a 50/50 drawing. Last year was the first time we had a 50/50 and the winner walked off with over $2,000 in cash!
The boat this year will be a 14’ G3 boat. The boat is being donated to JCAA by G3 Boats and four G3 dealers: Salem Boat Exchange, Spring Garden Marine, Mercer Marine Supply and Mayberry Sales and Service. Yamaha is again donating the engine.
In addition, the four G3 dealers are offering an additional $500 off one of their boats to anyone who enters the tournament and attends the awards presentations. So make your best deal on one of their boats and present the $500 coupon and receive an additional $500 off. I am mailing the coupon out with the affidavits so if you enter the tournament look for the coupon with your affidavit. They will also be available at the awards presentations on August 12th.
Our T-shirts and hats are in so we’ve started mailing those out.
Major sponsors so far this year are: Interlux, Yamaha, G3, the four G3 dealers mentioned above, Salem Boat Exchange, Spring Garden Marine, Mercer Marine Supply and Mayberry Sales and Service, Costa Sunglasses, Underwater Green Fishing Lights & Canyon Reels & Tica Fishing Tackle.
Port sponsors so far this year are Fisherman’s Headquarters for the LBI port; RJ Marine Service for the Cape May port, South Harbor Marine for the Barnegat Bay port and Hoffman’s Marina is back on board again this year for the Manasquan port.
Our second mailing for the tournament has gone out with an entry form along with a T-shirt ordering form.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at the JCAA office at (732) 506-6565 or email me at jcaa@jcaa.org.
