Major Surf Fishing Tournament to Cap Club's Centennial

The Ocean City Fishing Club (OCFC) will conclude a nearly year-long centennial celebration next October with an ambitious, three-day surf fishing tournament that is expected to draw up to 100 East Coast teams competing for total cash awards of $20,000.

The competition will take place October 17-19, 2013, along the beaches of Ocean City.

"We believe this 100^th anniversary event will be the largest surf fishing tournament that has ever been held in Ocean City," said Mike Hayes, an OCFC trustee and tournament chair. "The city administration and the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce are solidly behind what we are doing. In addition to hosting the 28-member Association of Surf Angling Clubs (ASAC) in New Jersey, we anticipate attracting many teams that have never fished in Cape May County."

Hayes’s comments were echoed by ASAC president Jim Jefferys, of Claremont in Dennis Township.

“A lot of people are looking forward to this tournament,” Jefferys said. “It’s a rare opportunity to put Ocean City on the map as a fishing destination for anglers up and down the East Coast. Not only does this tournament showcase surf fishing but also tournament surf fishing for all to see and to try their surf casting skills.”

The ties between ASAC and the Ocean City Fishing Club go back many years. In 2015, ASAC will celebrate its own centennial, and the very first president of the organization — in 1915 — was Churchill Hungerford, one of the legendary fishermen who founded OCFC in 1913. The Ocean City Fishing Club is the oldest, continuously operating fishing club in the United States.

According to Hayes, the three-day tournament will begin with the check-in of teams and welcoming events on Thursday, October 17. On the following day there will be two fishing sessions and a tackle show. The tournament concludes Saturday, October 19, with two more fishing sessions and an awards dinner.

All of the teams must include six members; there will be no individual entries.

Assisting Hayes in planning for the tournament are two co-chairs: OCFC first vice president Augie Conte, Jr., of Ocean City and Cherry Hill, and Dan Ladik, of Ocean City and Cherry Hill.

For more information about the 100^th anniversary tournament, contact Mike Hayes at (856) 303-0906 or mikehayes325@gmail.com. Conte can be reached at (856) 429-4364 or aconte1@aol.com. Ladik’s phone is (856) 662-2058 and his email is djladik@comcast.net.