Thank you
First of all, let me quickly say thank you once again to all of
you whom contributed your time, effort, money, grants, services,
or products to this tournament. We could not have done it without
your help and hope that many of you will be on board to participate
again next year!
|
1 st, 2 nd,
3 rd Place anglers post with ACS Director David
Moore at the 2007 ACS Northeast Regional's in Baldwinsville
, NY |
Re-cap of Wednesday, May 16 th
Wednesday night we held our welcoming reception/cocktail party for
competitors, dignitaries, sponsors and committee members. That
went on from 4-6 pm in The Red Mill Inn's banquet facility. Immediately
thereafter, we had a short parade from The Red Mill Inn over to the
Budweiser Amphitheatre on Paper Mill Island , directly adjacent to
the Inn and Erie Canal Lock 24.
There were 16 foreign exchange students leading the parade, holding
their home country flags. They were asked to attend because
this was an international angling tournament, with competing teams
representing 3 different countries and 14 different states. The
Star Spangled Banner was sung by the local Baldwinsville High School
Jazz a cappella group and then the 16 exchange students made welcoming
remarks in their native languages. No one in the crowd was
expecting this and it was a well-liked surprise.
We then thanked our sponsors and ACS Director David Moore then conducted
the peg draw (when each team comes up to the stage and picks the
number of the location where they were to fish for the duration of
the tournament).
Thursday and Friday - Continuous Fishing
Thursday and Friday were two days of continuous fishing, starting
9AM Wed and concluding 11AM Saturday (50 hours). There were
3 teams situated at Lyons Park on Rt 48, about 7 or 8 teams at the
Onondaga Lake Dog Park on Rt 370, and approximately 25 teams at an
old private airfield adjacent to Syroco on Rt 48. Each team
had about 50 yards of space between one another.
My closest interaction with the anglers came as a weigh-in marshal,
for which I took the overnight shift Thursday. From about 8:30
PM to 5:30 AM, John Sunderhaft (committee member and owner of Lock
24 Restaurant) and I weighed well over 100 large carp. It was
a cold, dirty job, but we had a blast! The anglers are all
very personable people who like to share stories and past tournament
experiences, as well as educate about proper carp handling and tournament
protocol. They were absolutely thrilled with their experience
in Baldwinsville. One team told me they placed 2 nd at an Oklahoma
tournament after catching only 3 carp for a combined weight of 52
lbs. They told me this as I was weighing 5 of their fish for
a weight of over 60 lbs!
Just about everyone, whether in the lead or near last place, said
they had never before had such a rewarding fishing experience. Our
Baldwinsville-native 'virgin' carp must have been excited at all
of the new tastes in the water, as they were biting like crazy and
kept these fishermen awake and busy for all 50 hours. The final
results were staggering.
Saturday - Closing event and award ceremony
An all-day event was held Saturday to bring the tournament to a
close. Food, drink, entertainment and merchandise were available
on Paper Mill Island from 12-10 PM. Approximately 200 people
stopped by in the afternoon and that number about doubled from 5-6
PM for the VIP services offered and award ceremony at 6 PM. It
was a very energetic and suspenseful crowd that waited to hear the
results of the tournament. Everyone was very supportive to
the First, Second, and Third Place , Big Fish and B'ville Cup winners.
There was live music by the JM Danrick Band until 10 PM, although
the crowd had slimmed downed substantially by that point.
|
An angler displays his catch at the 2007 ACS Northeast Regionals, Baldwinsville, NY |
A Record-Breaker
Although it cannot be officially ratified, preliminary research
is showing that a previous benchmark had been set for total combined
weight of fish caught in an angling tournament, which was 7.5 tons
of carp hauled in over the course of a 72-hour tournament. The
2007 ACS NE Regionals blew that figure out of the water without breaking
a sweat. Our 50-hour tournament (attended by only 34 teams,
mind you) netted a total combined weight of over 28,000 lbs - that's
over 14 tons!!! The winning team alone, a pair from France
, caught 225 fish for a combined weight of over 3,000 lbs - unheard
of in the carp angling world!!!!
The AP newswire has picked up the story and tales of the 2007 ACS
NE Regionals are quickly spreading far and wide. Not only will
there be excellent local and domestic coverage, but the international
carp angling scene is going to be flooded with first-hand accounts
of this surreal angling experience. There are over 60 international
carp angling publications, and they will all be reporting this amazing
finding - no doubt resulting in a great increase in incoming tourism
to the area for angling and everything else we in Upstate NY have
to offer.
A Bright Future
Over the next couple of years, you will no doubt see a change in
the perception of Baldwinsville , NY as an international tourist
destination for professional anglers and their families and friends. This
will benefit a lot of people, including Baldwinsville and surrounding
tourist destinations in Upstate NY, the NYS Canal System and many
more!
Here is a link to the Kodak website that
is displaying my photos:
Some articles about the tournament
Syracuse Post Standard Articles:
Syracuse News Channel 10 Articles:
Angler's Forum with 'insider' comments about the 2007 ACS NE Regionals:
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about
the 2007 tournament or next year's, scheduled for May 14-17, 2008. You
can reserve your space now as a 2008 sponsor or volunteer. We
want to make this tournament grow bigger and better each year, and
our planning committee could use input, feedback, and commitments
of support from anyone and everyone.
Thank you,
Jason
Jason Bernhardt, Associate Publisher
New York Canal Times
140 Main St .
Richfield Springs , NY 13439
315.858.5858 - phone
315.858.2615 - fax
www.nycanaltimes.com
www.MercuryMediaGroup.com
