Report - Tristate Skindivers 9th Annual Tog Blast Spearfishing Tournament - Dave Gleeson

Date: 10/13/18 TOG BLAST

Location: Newport, RI

Viz: 2-8’
Temp: 63

Report Contributor: Dave Gleeson

Conditions were tough for TriState’s annual Tog Blast tournament, but a handful of divers out of the 23-man field weighed in some respectable fish, including a beastly 12# Tog from Eric Faust!

Mike Meyer and myself headed out mid morning. Strong winds from the NW and the heavy rain from the day prior left me with low expectations in terms of visibility. Sure enough, our first stop out front was tough, with a strong ground swell churning up the bottom enough to reduce viz to less than 5 feet. Past a depth of 40 feet, it turned impossible to see anything. I ended up shooting my personal best black seabass, a 3.8lb specimen who holed up and took nearly 30 minutes of effort to extract from the rocks. Without Mike, I would have had to cut the line and call it a loss- just another reason a good buddy is important to have while diving.

Over an hour into our day, and we still hadn’t seen a tog big enough for a chance at the tournament podium, let alone had a shot at one. We pulled our anchor and shot up inside the bay, straight into the wind and chop in my small zodiac. We had better luck here, with about 8ft viz in some spots. I took one healthy male tog, weighing in at 7.8lbs, just enough to earn 3^rd place in the tog blast. Mike took a nice male as well.

The fish are certainly in, and in decent numbers. As long as the swell and wind continues, the  toughest part in the coming weeks is going to be finding clear enough water to hunt them.

Thanks again to Mike Meyer and Mike Landau for putting on another awesome tournament, and congratulations to Eric on an awesome fish to win it.

Results, top 3 fish.
Eric Faust - 12.0 lbs
Eric Cadorette - 9.7 lbs
Dave Gleeson - 7.8 lbs

 

Dive Safe

Dave

Event Report - Tristate Skindivers Club 6th Annual Species Meet 8/6/2016

Date: 08/06/2016
Event: Tristate Skindivers Club 6th Annual Species Meet
Location: Weigh In at the Bon Vue Inn - Narragansett, Rhode Island

Last Sunday on August 6th the Tristate Skindivers Club hosted what has grown to become the premier spearfishing event in the North East each season. With over 65 competitors this season this event has become the ultimate competition for freedive spearfishermen in New England due to the level of competition, grand support form sponsors and the awesome spearfishing community we have up here in the North East. The format for the competition is called a "Species Meet" which is different from the usual total weight tournaments often hosted and requires divers to be able to harvest and weigh in 1 fish from each fish species available to hunt and weigh in as listed in the tournament rules.  The more different species you can harvest, the more points you accumulate, the better your points standing at weigh in time. Competitors have a full day to hunt Rhode Island waters from sunrise that morning and require them to be at weigh in at 5:00 pm . There is also a max limit on points that can be given for a particular single fish (like a striped bass), so you actually don't do any better to shoot a 50 lb bass as you do to shoot a 22 lb bass.  So your time would probably be better managed to take that 22 lb bass and get on with finding some other species. Ultimately this type of scoring format benefits those spearfisherman who are all around great hunters, which is the purpose of the tournament... a chance for the areas spearos and spearas to showcase their skills. Due to this unique scoring format, great prizes, fun venue and awesome spearfishing community... this event has grow into the success that it is.

First lets start with a heavy back pat for the Tristate Skindivers Club which except members to cover every state in New England + New York. The founding members of 3SSD had a vision to start a true non profit spearfishing club and find worthy causes to donate funds raised to that they raise each season, and give something back to the community. Each year they select a great benefit to donate the money raised from this event to. This season 2016 they selected to donate all the funds raised to Dana-Farber Cancer Research , what an incredibly worthy cause to help out. So in addition to donating the funds, they collected fish donated from competitors that day to cater another fund raiser for Dana-Farber which they were catering on August 20th.  That is a whole lot of work and an incredible amount of heart. Do not worry, if you could not attend this meet and still want to help out You Can Make a Donation Directly To Dana-Farber Here ! I am sure Tristate thanks you in advance for your donation.

Second, lets check out the t-shirt that is given to each competitor as part of their $35 entry fee. It has become a tradition each year for 3SSD to offer a cool and different t-shirt for this event and this season they were blessed with an incredible piece of artwork from the one and only Caleb Goins . His artwork of the striped bass was perfect for this years shirt !

Third, there is the sponsors who provide prizes for the competitors. New England Freedive Spearfishing Co and many others including HammerHead Spearguns and Crist Spears, Omer, Mako, Dip and Dive, SporTube make it possible for each competitor to win a prize in the free gear raffle after the weigh in. As a sponsor, NEF loves being involved with this event not only for the fun and feel good fund raising effort, but it also allows us to showcase some products we donate to get them in front of spearfisherman on the prize tables. I usually spend the afternoon answering questions about the gear I have donated which always seems to bring a big interest. If you should have an interest in becoming a sponsor for next year's 2017 Species Meet, please contact Tristate Skindivers Club via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TristateSkindiversSpearfishingClub/?fref=ts
or via EMAIL LINK HERE 

Fourth, the Bon Vue Inn in their generosity provide the perfect outdoor venue to host the weigh in. Competitors and their guests get to enjoy some fun drinks and great food during the gathering. Shout out to our favorite server - always smiling, sometimes cart wheeling "Tracey", who has worked every event 3SSD has hosted their and made sure it was a success.

Finally the review of the competition ! Well the winds were blowing a little in the morning and turning up some mid size seas in most SW facing areas of Rhode Island with expectations of showers in the afternoon. Those that ventured out to Block Island in search of their big bass had an interesting day battling rolling seas, but the fish were there, and those that went out got their big bass and multiple species. For those that shore and or kayak dived, we had similar conditions. Where we were not battling bigger swells most areas had little visibility to hunt fish in due to the winds. The area in Point Judith where my dive buddy and I hunted seemed to have the bigger seas but also hunt-able visibility, which was a pleasant surprise. I managed to harvest 2 species a tautog and a scup to weigh in but i could not find a shoot-able size bass and black sea bass before i finally decided I had had enough of rolling in the big seas in the kayak and decided to head to the weigh in and get ready. It was 5:00 somewhere and I knew exactly where.

65 competitors weighed in in 2 categories Boat or Shore/Kayak. As usual some impressive fish hit the scales with the variety consisting of striped bass, tautog, black sea bass, scup, bluefish, trigger fish and fluke. Below is a list of the top three divers in each category. 

 Overall high scores/ winner

1. Ricardo Cruelles. 5 fish; 93 points.
2. Kelly Gillette. 5 fish; 91 points
3. Kenneth Julian Martín. 5 fish; 81 points.

Kayak / shore:
1. Bobby Morin, 2 fish 28 points
2. Garrick G., 2 fish 27 points
3. Ed Wormold, 2 fish, 26.5 points

Congratulations to the top diver in the shore/kayak category Bobby Morin who beat out the rest of us who only weighed in 2 species in this category, but his 2 were bigger... well done Bobby !

Congratulations to NEF Team Diver Ricardo Cruelles (@rcruelles) who won the boat category with an impressive stringer which included a striped bass, 11 lb tautog, blue fish, black sea bass and a trigger I was very excited for Ricardo because I know how much work he puts into competing in this event each year with multiple scouting efforts. He prides himself to represent my NEF Shop well in events he competes in and when someone puts that much heart into their work, it is twice as exciting to see him get the win. SHAKA.

After the weigh in and winners are decided it is time for Tristate to run their famous gear raffle. It is always great to see divers get a chance to win a piece of gear they may have needed. There always seems to be plenty of prizes to allow every competitor to win something.

When it is all said and done, for me it is the camaraderie of the gathering at these events that I look forward to the most. A chance to see spearos and spearas from outside the area I may only be lucky enough to see once a year at this event. Dive stories and laughs are traded over a cold beverage or two and plans are made to get together for future dives. New England is truly blessed with one of the best spearfishing communities anywhere.

Watch the Tristate Skindivers Club Facebook Page for next years event if you would like to compete.

 Credit to Stephanie Young for some of these great images.

Thank You to ALL who make this possible.
Give thanks to mother ocean for bringing us all together and watching over us for another day.

Dive Safe and be Good to Each Other,
Tog Cult

Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament Report - May 28 2016

Just a quick dive report from the Mass Invitational Spearfishing Tournament hosted by the Mass Freedivers Club at Sakonnet Point yesterday in Little Compton RI.

New England Freedive Spearfishing Co sponsored some gear for prizes for the competitors in yesterdays meet. The atmosphere of this tournament is not a competitive as some and designed to get more new spearfisherman involved in our dive community and gives them a chance to dive a fun tournament, meet other divers and spend the day with one of the coolest and most helpful spearfishing communities you can find anywhere. It is truly not about the competition and more about the camaraderie and that is what we want all newcomers to the sport to experience and enjoy.

The wind out of the South West provided a little chop and stirred bottom up making for tight visibility to hunt in. Nonetheless, divers had a great day in the water although it was very tough to find tournament size fish (2" over minimum state regs) . Water temps were still around 54 degrees making a 5mm the perfect suit for these dive conditions.

This important fact should be noted - Almost all divers could find legal but not tournament size (2" over state regs)  fish and chose NOT to harvest them. I think this is a testament to the great stewardship of our local spearfishing community to act towards what the rules of these tournaments was designed to do and provide a manner for us to self regulate ourselves for a fishery we so love here in New England. Well done my friends !


Congratulations to Olivier Lauzon finishing First Place with a great stringer of fish including a striped bass and a pair of tautog, Mark Welzel took Second Place and Largest Fish with a 27.5 lb striped bass and Third Place was earned by Jon Stevens who connected with a tautog.

NEF was again honored to be the sponsor for this fun tournament and was proud to raffle of some gear to competitors and congratulations to Shang Jen who won the Mares Viper Pro 90cm Speargun we donated.

Some rainy weather seems to be heading our way tonight into tomorrow so today is the day to get out there and chase fish before your Memorial Day plans gets washed out. Do not plan on Sakonnet Point for bigger Tautog, maybe head North into the Bay to find those spawning fish or some of the spots outside the Bays along river mouths that were holding good fish earlier in the week. Divers are taking bass from the Bay to Block, with the inner bays holding more consistent numbers of fish right now.

Bass Cheeks, Tog Arancinis and Skewers ... Oh My - 2016 Tristate Kill N' Grill Report

Event:  2016 Tristate Skindivers Kill N' Grill 

Date: 2/13/2016

Every winter for the last 8 seasons the Tristate Skindivers Club has sent out a calling to wake us hibernating North Atlantic spearos from our winter slumber. A calling of the culinary clansman for a banquet of medieval proportions to challenge those who can match their cooking creations with their prowess at spearfishing, hunting and harvesting. Set precisely at mid-winter this gathering provides a chance for the tribesman of the North to gather for some camaraderie and shake off the doldrums of our off season home confinement sentence.

The Club sets forth one rule for this Olympiad of the oven… each competitor must have killed, grown or harvested yourself an ingredient in your culinary entry. From fish to beast, to shellfish and crustaceans, venison and water fowl to gardeners and foragers… what these individuals throw down in this kitchen cage match expands each year. Everyone attending sits in the judge’s seat and picks their top three favorite dishes with the winners being determined by the sum of these votes. The fair Maidens of Tristate hold this all together and handle the balloting and results.

Some find the most creative ways to utilize parts of fish, fowl and beast that others would usually discard unknowing of the potential delicacy there. Tautog Cheeks! Who the fuck takes the time to remove the tiny cheeks from blackfish when filleting? But I guess if you are "the Reverend" Kelly Gillette, your usual tautog harvest size is a little larger than the average spearo up here and then henceforth makes his tog cheeks not so tiny and worth his added effort. Candied Bass and Tautog Cheeks - yes, Bass Cheeks Wrapped in Bacon… well that’s like a 1-2 punch the emotions and senses!  You might catch me fishing through his gut piles near the dock in 2016 to find something he missed. 

 

Smoked Striped Bass and Cabbage Pierogis with Yogurt Dill Sauce? Somebody please slap Wayne Woodbury for just getting ridiculous on the creational level and tell him “do not enter the light and come back to our world”. Mad skills buddy. Last year he showed up with these stuffed bass bites with an aioli sauce that just blew my taste buds away, so I was wondering how he could step it up from here… well evidently, this is how.

 

Mike Landau whips up “Buffalo Tautog Arancinis with Buffalo Ranch Dipping Sauce”.  Not even fair, right?  Mike always brings game but this dish had to be one of my favorite ALL TIME kill n’ grill bites. 

When my effort with “Sriracha & Brown Sugar Mahi Mahi and Mango Kabobs finished with a Warm Honey drizzle and Cilantro” doesn’t even make an honorable mention. I was clearly outclassed by an extraordinary field of entries this year and rightfully so.

But Top Honors for the 2016 Contest were rightfully earned by the Captain of the Imagination, Jason (there will be no bananas or fuckery on my boat) Saiz with his outrageous - “Grass Fed Beef and Pork Stuffed Meatballs with Guancaile, Chiles, and Cream Cheese” !  Yes butchered by him, grown by him and I do not even doubt that he wills his own cream cheese into existence from milking pure happy thoughts, heating it with his bravado then culturing it with stories of past adventures at sea... arrrrrghhh. Congrats Jason ! 

Chowders, lobster bisque, venison sausages and skewers of happiness. Then fried bass cheeks, baked scallops, smoked hake followed by more – more - more as you proceed down the banquet tables. It is an all-out assault on the senses and you definitely get your money’s worth for the show. 

But it is always the kinship of seeing great friends and sharing diving stories, tales of the ocean and a chance to show off new spearfishing gear that we have built or acquired that is the underlying theme of the event. With divers coming from New York to New Hampshire, the crowd is always diverse and fun. New faces in the spearfishing scene are welcomed in and soon weaved into the fabric of the freediving community while we also get a chance to grab some advice from the local veterans in the sport. My personal tactic is to pry a few secret spots away under the sponsorship of a shot or two.  With the conclusion of the event we all leave with full bellies, our sides hurt a little from laughing, and we are now only a few weeks away from getting back in the water and chasing some tautog locally. 

Thank You Tristate Skindivers and Cheers to the upcoming 2016 season!  

Visit the Tristate Skindivers web site