Sports

346-Pound Shark Squeaks Out Win at Star Island Tournament

A 344-pound shark was in the lead until a heavier thresher showed up at the scales with 12 minutes to spare.

A 346-pound shark earned anglers $39,000 in the Star Island Yacht Club Tournament in Montauk, but had another boat not arrived 18 minutes late, another group of boaters would have claimed the prize.

Every minute and every pound counted in the two-day 27th annual Shark Tournament. The heaviest shark, a thresher, beat out another thresher by just two pounds, and came in with just 12 minutes to spare before the deadline on Sunday at 5 p.m.

Captain Jason Blake's Blue Eyes brought in the winner thanks to angler Mario Cervone's catch, which topped a 344-pound thresher caught on the boat Riverhead Toyota. But, it was a 364-pound mako, caught on the Pilar, that would have won, but the crew arrived 18 minutes late, according to Rich Janis at Star Island.

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Participation was down a bit, to 93 boats, due to the high winds and high seas forecast for the tournament over Father's Day weekend, which gave out $322,800 in prize money. There were a total of 600 anglers taking part, and a total of 20 sharks weighed, including five makos, two threshers, and 13 blue sharks.

Edible shark meat — 650 pounds worth — was donated to the Long Island Council of Churches.

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Only 21 boats went out on the first day. The start time was pushed back to 8 in the morning to let the seas and winds die down. Despite boats starting from both Montauk Point and the Shinnecock Inlet, there was only one qualifying shark for the day, a 218-pound blue shark brought in by Captain Kenny Hajduek’s My Joyce II. Kevin Adley caught it.

The second day started at 6 a.m., and all 93 boats went out to fish with an additional $232,000 in unclaimed prize money on the line.

The first shark to reach the scales was a 203-pound blue shark, caught by Sam Bajarktarevic aboard the Knot-On-Call. Sean Kinney’s 311-pound mako, caught on the Joy Sea, was in the lead, until the arrival of Riverhead Toyota, captained by Matt Baxter, with the 344-pound thresher, caught by Charlie Puglisi. The mako still earned the heaviest mako prize of $5,000.

With minutes to spare, Blue Eyes cleared the inlet and brought in the winner at 346 pounds. The heaviest shark overall prize was $30,000, but it also won the heaviest shark prize on the second day, which was $5,000, and another prize of $4,000.

The boat won the thresher category, the Joy Sea won the mako category, and Miss O won the Blue Shark category.

Red-Line productions filmed the tournament for a series that will be aired on NBC in late July. Camera crews went out with anglers aboard the Bella Donna, Fish-On, Tiger Shark, and Crack-Oar.


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