Report: Mr. Poseidon’s Montauk Fishing Challenge

Overview of the Tournament

This past weekend, over 170 surfcasters gathered at the iconic Montauk Lighthouse for Mr. Poseidon’s annual Montauk Fishing Striper Challenge. Held from Thursday, October 17, to Saturday, October 19, this 3-day, catch-and-release tournament drew anglers from across the Northeast, including Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This was the third year Mr. Poseidon held the tournament and saw the biggest turnout thus far.

I put on my press hat and departed around 4:00AM towards The End to document the event.

Anglers competed in a best-of-10 format, with the grand prize of $5,000 awarded for the angler with the longest striped bass. There were also competitions for longest cast and most accurate cast, where 1st place winners both took home $1,000 in prize money.

Juan Gonzalez claimed the top honor with a 43-inch striper caught on the first night of the tournament with a Smokey Joe colored Super Strike darter. “I was fishing that North wind, casting as far as I could into the rips during the outgoing tide,” he told me. In addition to winning $5,000 cash, he earned his name on Mr. Poseidon’s epic trophy, plus a custom winner’s jacket, which features an embroidered OTW logo along with other supporters of the tournament.

In second place was former Montauk-resident and well-known YouTuber Rich Janitschek AKA Fishaholic. Rich placed a 42-inch striped bass that same night around 2:45 AM on a pencil popper, earning him $2,500.

The 3rd place striper, measuring at 38.5 inches, was caught by Rob Cook for a $1,000 payday. Rob caught his fish on a Super Strike Needlefish with a very slow retrieve during the end of the incoming tide.

‘Delco’ Joe Pinto (@Delcotackle) took home 1st place in the longest cast competition using a custom Delcotackle rod along with his Van Staal VS200 spinning reel spooled with 80-pound leader tied via double-uni-knot to 50-pound braid mainline, dumping a cast 165-yards out. He even had a broken guide during the competition! “I wanted to keep true to what I fish and still pull the win,” Joe told me.

Alejandro Encinas (@pescandoennuevayork) won most accurate cast, nailing a traffic cone dead-center with a bucktail from 65-yards away!

Montauk Fishing Report

Surfcasters reported somewhat challenging conditions and plenty of ‘rat’ sized stripers. On Thursday, the morning bite was slow but eventually gave way to peanut bunker blitzes that harkened back to the old days of Montauk. They didn’t last long, however.

Friday saw a Northern blow, with wind gusts up to 20mph. That, combined with Supermoon tides, had waves reaching the bluffs and caused flooding at Hither Hills, which made access difficult and delayed the casting competitions until the tide moved out.

Of course, I got out to do some fishing myself that morning before work, sharing a tide with Cody Mann (@morefish_lessworries) at the North side of the lighthouse. We cast tins and bucktails into the white water where “bird-nadoes” were terrorizing bait schools just out of reach. After an hour with no luck, we headed back to the parking lot to meet up with other anglers who were fishing around the point. That’s where I ran into my buddy Dylan Jewell of All Island Surfcasters.

I spoke to Dylan to get his take on the fishing: “The first two days were blowing pretty good out of the North and Northeast. The bait was pushed tight to the beach which created some awesome blitzes from the North-facing side of the lighthouse. On Saturday night the constant wind brought in a lot of seaweed which made conditions much tougher,” he told me.

A mix of bait was around, and Dylan reported: “There were peanuts getting pushed on the beach, and my buddy on the boats said he had whiting, weakfish, and spots out there.” Throughout the day, I hit up spots across the Southern and Northern shores of Montauk and found the same situation. It seemed like a giant belt of birds and bait formed around the entire point and would get pushed in with the tide.

“Diamond jigs and poppers were the key during the day, while at night we caught pretty much all of our fish on Darters,” Dylan said. I’d also heard of good success throwing needles and pencils from a few other surfcasters that were competing, and there were plenty of anglers throwing the classic bucktail and trailer combination from the rocks during the day.

The anglers I spoke to that morning had it in their minds to hit the ‘Intercept Points’ – as Bill Jakob of the Montauk Surfcaster Association puts it – at Shagwong Point, False Bar, and of course the base of the Lighthouse. Most of the action was happening during the peak incoming and outgoing tides when the water was still relatively high and moving fast.

Keeping Surfcasting Alive in Montauk

While the fishing culture in Montauk has changed, events like Mr. Poseidon’s tournament help keep the tradition of surfcasting alive in this once-sleepy fishing town. The number of participants has grown each year since its inception, and Mr. P seems committed to making it better each year. Many appreciated the competition and camaraderie that came with it, myself included.

You can learn more about Mr. Poseidon and his tournament by checking out his YouTube channel, where he frequently goes live.

Related Content

Montauk The Way It Used To Be
7 Essential Striper Lures for Montauk
Montauk Stripers Under The Full Moon
The Montauk Fall Run Survival Guide

Source: https://onthewater.com/report-mr-poseidons-montauk-fishing-challenge

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