Tybee Redfish Tournament Post Report

[RHFisherman]

Anyone with 1st hand experience of how the tourny went this past weekend? I couldn't be there this year but it looks like a blast. Definitely thinking about making the trip for next year.

I'd love to hear how it went if you were there or heard anything about it.

 

[SMPL LFE]

Anyone with 1st hand experience of how the tourny went this past weekend? I couldn't be there this year but it looks like a blast. Definitely thinking about making the trip for next year.

I'd love to hear how it went if you were there or heard anything about it.

There is a FB page on it that shows the top few spot reults

 

[earlthegoat2]

It was pretty slow. Not many fish caught.

 

[charlie81]

I didn’t go but there are several FB posts with unhappy fisherman. Several guys asking for refunds and more saying there was no room to fish. Not sure what’s true and what’s not.

 

[Fatback1]

Hey all, this was my sixth Tybee Island Surf Redfish Tournament, I missed the first two years. If you'll read my post on here from early September, I did try to complain about the timing of the event (to early) while singing many praises about how much fun it really is. And yes, its extremally fun, whether you catch fish or not! If your into surf fishing and able, this event is for you!

Anyway, I'll give ya'll my take on this years tournament, please note, I only was able to fish on Saturday only, this was due to the problem of me being old, fat, and pretty much just a shell of the man I used to be. But anyway, I decided to give it **** for at least one solid full day and ya'll, I fished hard as I could from lines in to lines out on day one, I made long casts with solid baits all day! Conditions led me to believe that Saturday would be the best catching day, well, I was wrong, only a few fish landed on day one. More and bigger fish were landed on Sunday. But, I did my part on Saturday, but the fish did not do theirs!

Early bird gets the worm. Similar to last year, if you were not on the beach claiming your spot, and then setting up your gear in the wee hours of the AM, you would be left with very slim pickings. I was told be some, that many anglers were setting sand spikes the evening before. And some even set up the day before, camped, and stayed all night.

I, however, stuck with my go to plan of arriving at my normal spot on the beach between 5:00-5:30 AM, holy crap! I had to beg off on an couple of sympathetic fellows to squeeze into a narrow spot, dang it, years past this was not an issue. The real-estate I did get was smaller than the area that I would typically utilize for two rods fishing for groceries and/or for fun!

This year, the tournament zone was pretty much two-thirds of island, from the north beach jetties all the way to 12th street. Dang, that's like almost like two miles of beach. I heard, and I think its true, that there were 430 guys in the tournament. That is something like approaching 900 rods in the water over a looooong stretch on beach! Woo hoo, in my first go around, year number three, there was like sixty dudes and it was not until year four, I think, they broke 100 entries. That year I was lucky enough to be a money winner, but it was just hundreds, not thousands like now.

Last year, and this year, are the only years where the winner got 10 grand for first place! It takes a bunch of entries to give out that big of a prize and still have some monies left over for a charitable cause, right?

So, bottom line, this tournament is having issues with its exponential growth and success. Yes, some paid participants did not get a spot on the beach to fish on Saturday and they asked for money back, just to many folks wanting to fish and not enough beach. I experienced several guys or groups of guys trudging past me both to the north and south an hour or so before lines in, they were hopelessly looking for a spot to fish which there few or none to be had. However on Sunday, I checked in with buddies and was told, yes, it was better to get to the beach early rather than late, but everyone who wanted to fish was able to get spot. The big fish were landed on Sunday by the way. I guess some just gave up after Saturday, or like me, could only physically handle fishing the surf for only one hard ten hour day! It sucks getting old!

It's a really cool unique event, where surf fisherman can come, have tons of fun, maybe win some big time dollars and support a charitable cause.

Yes, due to the tournaments popularity and success, there are issues that the organizers need to address, like limiting the number of entries to about 400, but, any of ya'll that are interested, I highly recommend giving it a go!

2023 results............

40" Redfish-$10,000.00 big ones!
39 3/4" Redfish- a decent $2000 bucks!
39 1/2" Redfish-I think pulled in $500!
Bluefish Calcutta got $2000 or so for a 16 1/2" fish!
Lots of nice stuff raffled off and a good charity got theirs!

I hope the 2024 Tybee Redfish Tournament will be held during the third or fourth weekend of October instead of the first weekend of October. Way more redfish fish will be landed and way more fun! Maybe even weed out some of the fair weather fisherman and sissy light weights, idk?