Great Gun Anglers ready for fishing trips

The Moriches Anglers will host their annual Shark Tournament on June 22 at 6 p.m. At the event, there will winners and raffles.

This year, the club will be limiting the sharks to only threshers due to their edibility.

“We don’t want to just catch sharks and kill them for no good reason,” said president of the club Evan Goldstein.

Additionally, new this year, they will be expanding the tournament to allow for both inshore and offshore categories (though boats can participate in both categories, if they wish). For the inshore category, the largest legal fish by weight of all eligible species will be the winner. Eligible fish species include striped bass, bluefish, weakfish or fluke. 

For the offshore category, the largest thresher shark or bluefin tuna will be the winner. This is the first year they included bluefin tuna.

“We hope this will include a lot more people,” he said, explaining this is the biggest fundraiser for the club.

The cost to join the tournament is $300 per offshore boat and $100 per in shore boat.

The mandatory captains meeting will be held the day prior on June 21 at the VFW on Main Street in Center Moriches.

This year will be the second year under the new name since the Great Gun Anglers merged with the Moriches Anglers to form a whole new club. The goal of the club is to promote the conservation of local marine fisheries while also combining honest sportsmanship with competitive sport fishing. 

“As a new unified organization, one thing that we wanted to maintain was the long legacy of our annual fishing tournaments,” said member Tim Markart.

In 2023, they held the inaugural Chet Wilcox Memorial Fluke Tournament as well as their annual Shark Tournament. Both tournaments were very successful.

“However, for 2024, we wanted to create more excitement and improve the tournament[s],” he added. “This is when we decided to combine and expand these two separate tournaments into the single 2024 Great Gun Moriches Angers Inshore and Offshore Fishing Tournament.”

“Seems like every year, we’re building,” Goldstein added.

He anticipates about 50 boats participating this year. Last year, participants caught a 275-pound thresher shark.

For club information please contact Evan Goldstein at (914)804-5875 or (631)878-6019. 

TAKE A VETERAN FISHING

Then, on Saturday, July 27, The Moriches Anglers once again host their annual Take a Vet Fishing trip.

During the event, vets will be treated to a day of fishing with all bait, tackle, and boats supplied by the club and local volunteers. Then, it’s back to the dock for a barbecue. 

Members of the Great Gun Moriches Anglers will provide all supplies and coordinate the fishing trip, including bait and polls as well as the boats.

Registration for veterans will begin at the Brooklyn Dock at the foot of Union Avenue in Center Moriches at 7:30 a.m.

Last year, about 45 veterans participated; this year they expect about 50.

“We couldn’t be doing this [if] it wasn’t for our veterans,” Goldstein said of the reason behind the event. “It’s the veterans that allow us to have our freedom. We own those guys everything—this is just our little way of being able to give back.”