More than two dozen anglers set out on June 14 to see who could catch the most stripers with the longest cumulative length and take home hundreds of dollars in prizes. The catch? No one caught a single fish.
The Harpswell Community School Parent Teacher Organization organized the 24-hour catch-and-release striped bass tournament to raise money for student programs, teacher appreciation and school lunches. Entry cost $40, and 20 people purchased tickets, according to organizer and PTO member Joel Soucie.
The tournament was virtual, meaning participants would go out and fish, then submit photos of the fish they caught via email. Soucie planned to announce the winners on the last day of school, June 16.
Local businesses donated prizes, with first place set to take home $200 cash, a $200 gift card to The Dolphin Marina and Restaurant, and a $15 gift card to Pammy’s Ice Cream Parlor. Prizes were to be awarded based on cumulative length of all fish caught, with additional prizes for most fish and biggest fish.
Soucie has organized striper tournaments in the past and was excited to support the school and get PTO dads involved in fundraising.
“We reached out to a lot of the local businesses down in Harpswell, a little bit in Brunswick as well, and we’ve had phenomenal support from them,” Soucie said. “It’s been really great to see everybody supporting the cause.”
But when Saturday rolled around, Soucie wasn’t receiving any email submissions and began to fear he had done something wrong. Eventually he started reaching out to participants and discovered everyone had struck out.
“There’s a lot of fishing families down in Harpswell, obviously, so they know what they’re doing,” Soucie said. “But nobody could come up with a fish. It was ridiculous. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it.”
Soucie and the other anglers have a couple theories about what happened. Because of a cold and rainy spring, water temperatures are three weeks behind where they would normally be, Soucie said. As a result, the fish are sticking to southern parts of the state, like Wells and Kennebunk. Also, any fish in the area may instead be in the Androscoggin or Kennebec rivers, where warmer water comes from inland.
Soucie also said there is a lot of baitfish around Harpswell, such as pogies, so stripers may be less interested in artificial lures.
After this disappointing result, the PTO decided to pivot and reschedule the tournament for July, when water temperatures should be warmer. The tournament will now take place for 48 hours so participants have a wider range of time to get out on the water. Ticket sales will reopen in hopes of signing up more competitors for the next round.
“Out of the two dozen anglers, fishing hard, we couldn’t come up with one fish,” Soucie said. “We had joked at one point that if one person caught one fish, they would win cumulative length, biggest fish and most fish. With one fish.”
The rescheduled tournament will take place from 12 a.m. on July 26 until 11:59 p.m. on July 27. Tickets are $40. For more information, email hcs.striper.tourney@gmail.com.
