After a first round with no fish in June, the Harpswell Community School Parent Teacher Organization saw greater success in the do-over of its inaugural Striper Tournament.
“We’re calling it the second first annual Striper Tournament,” organizer and PTO member Joel Soucie said.
The original catch-and-release tournament was scheduled for June 14, but after 24 hours and at least 20 participants, there were no stripers to be found.
While Soucie said he was shocked, the PTO quickly bounced back, rescheduling the tournament for Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27, giving participants longer to go out and fish.
Throughout the month in between, the PTO received five more sign-ups, surpassing its fundraising goal of $1,000. It raised $1,014 for student programs, field trips and classroom supplies.
With about two-dozen anglers on the water over the weekend, participants caught 17 stripers. The tournament was judged by cumulative length — participants submitted photos throughout the weekend, and winners were determined by the total inches of all the fish they caught.
First place went to the team “Reel Addition,” made up of Alex Bibber and family, who caught 13 fish totaling 361.5 inches. Bibber also won biggest fish, at 35 inches, and most fish caught, an exciting triple win on his birthday weekend.
The Nadeau family took second place with 46 inches, from two fish. “Striper Snipers,” composed of Maggie and Brian York and family, placed third with two fish that came to 33.5 inches in total length.
Winners took home cash prizes and gift cards for local businesses.
“We’re so thankful to all the local businesses and organizations that we reached out to for donations, gift cards, and in-kind donations,” Soucie said. “The support we got was phenomenal.”
The absence of stripers in the first iteration of the tournament follows a trend of difficult fishing throughout this summer. The Bailey Island Fishing Tournament only had four tunas caught this year, as opposed to 18 the previous year.
“It’s been a weird season up in our neck of the woods,” Soucie said. “The striper fishery has been struggling for several years anyway, so it’s just one of those things that (with) a weird start of the year, a lot of rain, (and it) wasn’t really warm until recently, it’s just an off year.”
Going forward, Soucie plans to continue hosting the tournament over a weekend in late June or early July, giving people more time to fish. The PTO hopes to promote the event more broadly next year to increase the number of participants.
“I think the foundation and the proof-of-concept (are) there,” Soucie said. “We just want to try to make it bigger and better.”
