The Halifax Sport Fishing Club held its First Annual Surf Tournament on Saturday, November 14. The event was held in front of and to the south of Frank Reardon Park in Daytona Beach Shores. Over fifty members, friends and guests of the club signed up for this four hour tournament. Though the registration did not start until 7:00 AM, anglers from as far away as, Sarasota, Jacksonville, and Tampa were on the beach before dawn staking out their spots.

 

The day dawned bright and clear and eventually warmed up to a short sleeve and shorts kind of day. The surf was rough and the current was pulling hard to the south. This with the added problem of weeds led most anglers to limit themselves to one rod. It was a top down high tide so to get to deeper water you had to wade out to your hips, or chin (depending on your height) and throw real far. With the wind and surf conditions plus the close proximity of anglers, tangles were inevitable, but were handled well by all involved.

 

Coffee and doughnuts were provided by the club much to the delight of the early registrants who faced a chilly early morning before the sun did its work. Registration duties were handled by tournament chairwoman, Capt. Helen Klenk with weigh-in responsibilities going to club Weigh-Master, Andy White. Tournament Director, Capt. Chris Corbett filled the position of "whatever needs to be done", dividing his time between registration, weigh-in and walking the beach checking on all.

 

The club's "Surf Tournament" prep seminar in October must of had some effect on a couple participants anyway. First place went to Mike McKee with a 3.9 black drum. Mike hasn't been surf fishing in over twenty years and spends the majority of his fishing time offshore. Second place with a 1.2 whiting went to Wil Evans who was a first timer at surf fishing. Persistence paid off for Wil as he fought the rough surf all morning and refused to quit trying. Wil is also an accomplished offshore fisherman. The 50/50 for the most fish went to commercial fisherman, Steve Larson with a whopping twenty four whiting.

 

The HSFC Tournament Committee and it's band of volunteers are to be applauded for a well ran event and an enjoyable day for all who participated.

 

Capt. Don Martin

President/HSFC