It is Tuesday July 28, 2009 and I am now beginning to sit back and take a look at the day and realize how well it went. I had a great time as did all of our team Jackal members but hearing more and more as the days go by how much so many other people had fun really helps me realize why we set this year after year.
I am not one who enjoys promoting or even socializing in crowds with new people very much which often makes me wonder why I keep doing the Headhunt but this year’s event was much better for me than years past as the crowd was a little more diverse, the competition once again steeper as it is year after year, and the overall “good times” vibe in the air throughout the entire weekend was in full force.
Well, our team, once again, did not win our own event but I must say that I am glad that Seamus Muldoon and his vessel “JailBreak” with team Powe aboard took the #1 prize. Their 33 lber came in first and as I spoke about at the banquet– I am glad that a local boat fishing the south side won. No offense to the Bay guys who deserve full credit for the tourney’s overall biggest fish so far a 39 lber caught by Billy Hatfield and his crew last year but it was good to see the biggest fish caught this year in the waters that started this tourney.
It was also great to see Seamus and his crew TJ, Petey, Pop, Jeremy, and Dega take down Mike O’Brien, Gordy, Jimmy, Pete and their crew like a bear slapping a billy goat across the face and then eating her for lunch. The three time champs placed second for the second year in a row which must be a tough pill to once again swallow. Mike O’Brien and his team were taken down by Mike’s friend and foe Seamus Muldoon and the tension continues to linger around town with these two so take notes folks as this story looks like it could be a future best seller.
Before I go any further I want to thank again Arlie Ex and Tom Z. for keeping the lines tight for his team. Next year we expect to see you at the banquet Captain.
Some people have an issue with charter Captains competing in the same category as us civilian but I personally love having these Captains and boats in the mix and each year to motivate me to try to take them down. Maybe I should care more about the charter boat issue as I know some people do and have a legit reason to and we will take people’s concerns into full consideration but I never see us fully removing the “top dogs”. We will take a look at everything again this off season and adjust as needed but I still think that myself and my team Jackal could take either one of these guys in years to come.
Another great thing about this year is that 3rd place went to the Navigator and their crew who were new to the event. They fished in what one would say the big boat category (a 47ft Riviera) with a great crew who were friend of my parents but I now consider good friends of my brother and I just from this event. They had a great time, fished hard, and competed well and they are also a group who have been around Harwich a long time which is always good to see.
Other than a random charter boat out of Centerville almost running us over after following us two miles down the rip when we first moved to give him his way everything was great. Literally, this guy was about 20 feet from us, not looking at all, and finally moved when we yelled in his direction. It was unreal.
More importantly, I want to once again thank all of our sponsors, teams, and dare I say “fans”. I have been out today at the harbor, the tackle shop, and just around and I keep hearing how much fun people had and thanking me which is great. It has been a thankless endeavor in many ways in the past which has made it tough for me to continue but this year was a true turning point for me as I heard more thanks, observed more appreciation and fun on people’s faces this past weekend than ever before which is the only reason I ever wanted to do this whole thing in the first place.
This year I was able to truly hand out with great friends and meet new people who were just happy to be a part of the event which was great.
Thanks again to Jake Rooney’s for taking us on and taking care of us this year. The scene was fantastic, the food was great, and their crew also seemed to have some fun. Great job to Pete and his crew and hopefully it worked out as well for them as it did for us.
We obviously have more to think about to improve things for next year and in years past I did not look forward to doing it again but this year I do. I also want to thank my brother who was the spark for this tournament. In fact, he is the main energy behind the Harwich Headhunt and without him I would have let it go a long time ago. I just want to thank Ryan for getting me through this year and pumped about the tourney. Speaking of my dad Billy I truly want to say thanks as his involvement this year has been helpful. Working so close with the bro and the pop’s is not always my best idea of fun as I think it would be hard for many to work so closely on a project with your closest family members. We still have some work to do in this area but following this year’s successful even I have much more confidence to make the situation and tournament even better.
Friends and many others have jumped in already to talk about plans for next year. People have offered help in the past but this year the help was much offered is such a better and more constructive manner than years past.
I guess that it is time for me to wrap up my journal entry and get back to reporting. Speaking of reporting, please get us your photos from your day fishing and/or from the banquet. We will put as many pictures as possible online and are also looking to link in video clips so get us what you have so we can improve the site. Channel 18 Harwich is also going to be airing our banquet starting this Thursday at 11:00 am and 6:00pm through the weekend and when they send me the dvd we will look to link it to our site.
Thanks again to everyone and we’ll get more details up soon.
Let’s cross our fingers on the weather. At this point, we’re still on. Forecast looks like it should be blowing through tonight and tomorrow should be settling down. If anyone has any questions about this, just email us (headhunt@gmail.com) or give us a call 617.216.5833.
To get things kicked off, we will be having an informal captains meeting tonight at the Hot Stove. I know some crew members from team Jackal, Team Powe, and Team Assquatch will be in attendance.
Went out last night and hit the Port and Hot Stove in Harwich – both were hopping with some good tourney talk. Saw one sponsor and one participant who were fired up for Saturday and we got the trophy out from behind the bar at the Stove to show everyone what we’re playing for (and the cash). My boy Petey (of Team Powe) has been wearing a Headhunt shirt now 2 straight days and my wife came to the Cape yesterday sporting her own vintage version from the 4th annual. Wife also surprised me with a sweet banner that we’ll be hanging at Jake Rooney’s on Sat. That is love.
Will try to update more later, but things are coming together so let’s just hope the weather holds. We got out for a few hours yesterday and didn’t have much luck getting anything with size, so we’ll be looking to put that behind us and find some of the big fish we saw earlier in the week out there.
Check out the latest forecast here – http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=41.51474739095223&lon=-69.9334716796875&site=box&smap=1&marine=1&unit=0&lg=en – you can drag the cursor to various spots to get the latest.
As we said, we’ll be on channel 8 tomorrow if anyone wants to get in on tourney chatter, and hope to see you at the Stove tonight.
First off, Bob Joyce – Bob Halloran- and Mr. Hogan, I know that you all signed up for our tourney at Sunrise Bait and Tackle which is great. I/we just now need some contact info. and also would like you guys to sign the waiver form before Saturday but we do not have any contact info. Could you contact us at 774.487.0612 when you get a chance?
Okay now! It is the final days before the tourney and I/we are running around like stripers with their heads cut off!
Teams seem to be strategizing including our own team “Jackal”. Coming up with a plan and an approach is all part of the fun even though the whole planning thing continues to be such a complete S#$t storm which makes it even better. Too much planning can mess you up and too little planning can mess you up or either side of that wagon can give you victory which is why fishing tournaments are so great and why we need this event out our way so badly!!!
There is going to be an informal Captain’s meeting at around 5pm Friday at the Hot Stove Saloon and all teams can monitor Channel 8 on Saturday for tourney updates and chatter.
The energy is building and the weather looks like it is going to hold. The anticipation also seems to be more solid and much more serious this year than in the past with even the heavy hitters keeping things more quietly focused and this year. For me this is the first HeadHunt has me feeling like I am getting ready for a “top-notch” competition where angling teams are preparing and gunning for the top prize more than just going out to just have some fun. Anything goes and anything can happen in fishing and that is what makes this type of event so great. I love that we have been able to create something that we want and have wanted to be a part of for years now and being legit is all that I want this even to be all about.
Good times! Great competition! Solid Smack Talking! Team and Tournament camaraderie and great saltwater fishing tournament fun!
Platinum Building and his team looks like they may be fishing for saltwater taffy at some beach this Saturday which will be lame but who needs a bunch of girls again this year that would have easily come in 3rd last year without trying. Chris and his team having fun at the park only leave bigger pieces of the pie for the rest of us. T. Lewis also looks like he may be hitting the “house of blues” on Saturday which is respectable if you are one of those “house of blues” guys.
Has everyone heard of RON Z and his fishing tackle? I am sure that everyone has seen his gear but like me you may be used to your sluggos and fin s fish and standard jig heads and continue to use them as they are what you have in stock in your tackle trays. RON Z and his company have been supporters of this tourney for years now providing us with tackle to award to our tournament winners. I always liked his stuff but the jig heads and plastics that are built up in my tackle have kept me away from even thinking about buying more plastics. The end of the last season and more so this year I/we have purchased a his rigs and I/we can honestly say that we will go back to the old sluggo style rig unless we are amidst the blues or honestly unless I need to use up my smaller jig head and plastic inventory in the shallows.
The RON Z just works better in the water at all levels and just works itself more naturally with what seems to be a properly weighted momentum that just feels like it should without having to try too much on getting the rig to “ride” right.
Alright, I am only going on about gear reviews as I am just now getting back into the true fishing vibe after a solid two seasons off and I am only now finally getting to once again be able to appreciate what tackle fits my needs
Sunrise Bait and Tackle is back in the mix with us again and thanks again to them and all of their support and the set up for Saturday at Jake Rooney’s looks perfect.
Went out today with my brother, dad, and our friend Don to do some early tourney scouting. We left Saquatucket around 7 am and hit Bearses right away. Within 30 minutes we had picked up a nice 34’ fish on a live eel. After that, we had to work a bit, and hit a few other spots with little luck until later in the day. We had a quick hot spell at a new ‘secret spot’ and picked up a handful of good sized fish, including this one in the picture that was pushing 28 lbs. That probably won’t be good enough for the trophy, but definitely a good sign. Using my new Flip camera – I uploaded a quick video of the fish when we hit the docks – check it out here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTxlFAGeKnI – if the link doesn’t work, just search for ‘Headhunt pre fishing’ on Youtube. Again, send in any/all pictures and videos this weekend, and we’ll make sure we get them up.We took our few sellable fish over to Chatham to sell them, and were humbled by a guy in front of us who was unloading 29 bass, all big. Didn’t get too much info out of him, but I think 3 clicks west of the Flemish Cap is a good bet. Afterwards, we hit Jake Rooneys to talk to the owner Pete and see the setup for Saturday. Everything looks great, and Pete couldn’t be better about working with us. We will have a separate set up out back, and a ton of free food. At the Hot Stove we saw a few tourney participants, including 3 time champs Charlotte and Goride. Word on the street is Charlotte can’t make the tourney this year, which is too bad since she has been a big part of this and a big winner. Timmy Lewis wasn’t there, so he must still be hiding from the spotlight the media has thrust on him for allegedly not participating this year. Say it ain’t so. We have received a few late entries into the tourney, but are looking for more. Spread the word and get any last minute registrations in – this should be a great tourney and a great event, so let’s get some more folks involved.
Where the hell are the sand eels for @#$%^ sake? Finding fresh sand eel bait which could allow us to hit these bass more consistently with light tackle seems to be impossible around here which makes no sense since we see them by the millions out on the water. I am actually thinking of trying to set up a part time summer job next year where I am the guy who goes and gets these things. If anyone wants to give me a quick heads up on how to gather them up in numbers I will do everything I can to get them if it does not take much of an initial investment which I hear that it does not. Or…. I will not do anything to harvest them and I/we will be in the same position next season.
I went out yesterday with my dad for a couple of hours to get out for a bit in between kiddo chaos and we hit the tide all wrong which I knew was going to be the case and when the tide picked up we stunk. In fact, everyone around us were useless on all of the rips around the point as far as we could see and what made it worse was that I could see fish cruisin from time to time ahead of the rip close enough for them to wink at me and say !@@## YIU and you artificial jigs, sluggos, yozuris, umbrella rigs, blah blah blah. I hated the fish yesterday and I hated working the steel with one rod in crystal clear water where even I thought “hey?, how the crap could a fish with a brain or even one without a brain hit this plastic and lead stuff in such shallow clear water?”
I know the lead and other stuff works and it is often our goto plan but yesterday while fishing in calm clear shallow water I was dying for some fresh bait.
Next item - Corduroy talked about using cat food to make his stuff happen in the Andes or wherever he reported lighting it up but I want to make it clear that using cat food for chum and/or bait is illegal in most nations according to the Geneva Convention including France so his reports are bogus as far as myself and the feds are concerned.
I am also very concerned about Corduroy’s brother Timmy as he seems about as pumped about fishing these days as I was last year when I was trying to find a way to make my grass grow greener without it being overgrown too much clover and other junk. Let’s go my man as like I always say “no fish guts no glory”!
The final week!!!!!!!!!!
Great line up of assorted teams and the field is open with some room for more challengers so let’s go all you bystanders!
I keep seeing people wearing our old t-shirts around town and even on the docks but where are these folks and their boats for the actual event? This is one day, once a year, and the only legit bass tourney in the area and so many people seem to just sit on the sidelines and talk about fishing for this and that without jumping in on what is so much more than just another great day fishing. I do not want to see another guy wearing one of our shirts on the docks without knowing that they are at least thinking about getting into the competition this year (well, I actually always like to see the shirts out and about so keep up the good work all of you t-shirt wearing boat guys who are too afraid or busy or whatever it is to fish the tourney for one day when you are probably going to be out anyhow or if not you know that you should be).
Before I go any further with calling out the grandstanders I want to give a huge shout out this year to the Brewster Fire Dept. Teams and their involvement and eagerness to compete. We are looking once again like we will be hovering around 20 boats which is totally cool as this field makes it once again “anyone’s game”.
Item agenda:
I please ask all teams to take photos of their day and catch’s for our website and take video footage for our site as well so we can expand our exposure of those of you who are a part of our headhunt team. Harwich’s Channel 18 will also be at the weigh in.
It is time to step it up you sideliners and “yah yah” guys and unless you are fishing the monster shark tourney next weekend and unless you do not striper fish you should be in the Headhunt. I actually could seriously care less about too much involvement but I also just want as many boats as possible to have fun with us and more importantly have the opportunity to compete with us in this year’s event.
Our team that is coming down from Plymouth has their crew so eager to win this thing that they are willing to sell their souls to the KGB for inside secrets.
The Boston Team with Capt. Seamus and the Jailbreak are running in circles trying to find a way to cut down their lists for the Team Powe victory duck boat parade.
Rob and his Escape Landscape crew have been laying low but his recent eagerness and confidence reminded me of Brett Favre when he signed with the Jets.
The Hedmark boyz also have a gleam in their eyes which is great to see and last but not least the dreaded “old school” boys and maybe girls are puffing up with O’Brien and Hatch wanting this year’s prize more than any of their previous Headhunt victories.
And corduroy corduroy corduroy come come out come out wherever you are and show your face this week in town and get your brother in the game.
We are planning on fishing tomorrow in the rain so wish us luck or not and I will understand.
Sean
Love the chatter on the last post. I was on Nantucket with the wifes family so haven’t been able to respond. Great to see Team Powe talking it up, and awesome to see Harry Corduroy is back – and on the Headhunter which could be trouble. His comment on the last post was one of the funniest things I’ve read in awhile, good to have the old wily vet back in the mix. Now just need to get his brother to step up and make it happen.
I’m off all week, so headed out to Harwich Tuesday and will be fishing every day to warm up for Saturday. If anyone is around and wants to meet up for a trip, or hit a beer at the Hot Stove, just drop us a line. I guess my bro was in the Hot Stove on Friday and brought in the trophy which is now sitting proudly behind the bar. A few past champions – Mike O’Brien and Gordie Hatch were there and donned a few of the new Headhunt shirts.
It’s time to start watching the weather, and doing some scouting. Word on the street is that the fish were harder to find this weekend. There were reports of some size, but they weren’t easy to find and reports are murky as expected with the tourney looming this weekend. We’ll be doing some serious pre-fishing this week, and still haven’t decided exactly what our game plan is for the tourney.
We’ll post some reports this week and let us know if anyone has any info they want to share. Keep the trash talking up, and spread the word for more boats. We’re looking at about 15 boats right now, including a 50 fter and a 47 fter – so should be a good tourney. Hope to get another 10 or so boats this week, so talk it up at the docks.
As always, let us know if you have any questions, and hope to see you all Saturday.
It is all coming down to the final week before the HeadHunt and things need to get cleaned up and “fired up” a bit. July 25th seemed so far but it has now crept up on us like an eel that escaped the bucket .
The HeadHunt planning continues to be in full force and this year it seems to be more work than usual – at least for me. At this time I often wonder why I/we do this as the planning, promoting, website, t-shirt sales, banquet set-up, and blah blah – it takes a ton of time and I lose focus on what exactly all of the reward is?
This tournament has never been a money making endeavor on any level and in fact we have lost money every year. I bring this up because the bigger the tournament gets, the more people criticize and critique every move. But what can you do? We just want to do this for fun.
This year we are even going to donate some $$ (if we get enough people) to create a scholarship for local Harwich high school student. This tournament was started for the locals, and will always be about them, so we want to make it so we can give something back.
I have a 2 and 4 year old and a new boat and all I want to do is fish and spend time with my kids this summer but once again, the headhunt takes time, planning, money, and work. I’m not sure people understand how much, but we’d love some more help next year. Tara, O’Brien, Sunrise and everyone have been huge in helping us, but we can always use some more help.
Alright enough of my whining! But thanks for letting me get that off my chest you chumps and for all our hard work we just need those who are in to sign up and pay up now so we can make this whole thing happen in a quality manner.
We have a sweet group of new entries and a bunch of awesome sponsors but it is now time to sign up to actually be in this thing so we can check out the full “field” of teams.
I am off cape for a couple of days but will be back this weekend to hype this up and back to fish next week as much as possible and hit the Hot Stove and other local spots with my teammates in preparation to win it this year. It is year six and we have come in second by ounces 3 times now so I want this more this year than any other past seasons.
Where are Escape landscape and Rob’s team? Lewis and Corduroy? Platinum builders and Spirro and his crew? Jack and Jamie and and and and….
The outsiders are taking this thing over which is cool with my brother and me as it means more exposure but I/we do not want to hear that other teams are taking the event away from Harwich. As far as I am concerned this is REAL fishing tournament again this year so I/we do not want to hear any more excuses as to why you could not fish July 25th in a legit bass fishing tournament, which is what we thought this area needed.
It is go time TEAMS!!!!
So let’s go !
Side bets?
Before I go we once again need to give a full shout out to our great sponsors!
Harwich Port Boat Yard
Artist Jean Burke
Sunrise Bait and Tackle
Goose Hummock
Villa Roma Restaurant
Flipkey.com
Platinum Building/Remodeling
Hot Stove Saloon
ESPtees screen printing and embroidery
Escape Landscaping
Jail Break Sportfishing
DeCharles Plastering
O’Brien Pest Control
Talk of the Town Café’
Monahan & Co. Fine Jewelers, est. 1815
Harwich Opticians
Jake Rooney’s Restaurant
Kusmin Family Builders
Hatch Restorations
Locario’s Tennis Center
Fred Murtha-Home/R.V. service/repairs
Hedmark General Contracting
Summit Insulation
Only two weeks to go. Get your registration forms in, and spread the word. We now have over 10 boats in, and we know a lot of folks wait until the last second. One quick update, but the blowout date is the following Saturday – August 1. This is a last resort, but make sure you all send us your names and numbers on the registrations, or just email us at headhunt@gmail.com to make sure we have your contact info in the unfortunate event we need to postpone a week due to weather. We had to do it the first year, Pete Connor can tell you about that.
We have also been hearing a few grumblings about allowing bayside fishing and charter fishing since they both may have an advantage. We hear you. This year however, we’re keeping it the wild west and anything goes. We’re new to this, and just trying to grow the event. We will definitely make some changes in the future, but for now, we just want as many people to participate as possible, have a good time, and hopefully catch some fish. This is not a big $$ tourney, but we agree that these things may have to be addressed in the future.
A group of us got out on the Jackal this Saturday, gorgeous day on the water, and the new rig ran great, but the fish let us down. We put out time in east of Chatham looking for tuna, but had no luck. The whale show was unreal, and the Michael Jackson (and later worse) jokes on channel 68 were interesting to say the least. There were reports of multiple hook ups, but we never saw a fish or another boat hook up near us in the fleet we were in. Either way, it was great to get out.
I’m going to be taking off the entire week off before the tourney, if anyone wants to meet up to fish, or talk strategy/trash over some beers, let me know. I’ll be between Harwich and Plymouth all week and looking to be on the water as much as possible. We also still have plenty of shirts available – so send in any orders and we’ll get them out. Had a guy today in Boston comment on how sweet he thought my shirt was, and brought his wife over to check it out which was kind of weird in reality, but at least we’re getting the word out.
Check out the set up for the scale for the weigh. Our boy Ethan Kusmin of Kusmin Family Builders (found me my house in Plymouth and do awesome work if anyone needs a builder) put this together and once we slap a few logos on here it will be good to go as the official weigh station. We’ll set this up using the scale from Sunrise Bait & Tackle and have it out back at Jake Rooney’s for the tourney.
Send us any reports you have and hope everyone can make it. Word on the street is that constant ribbing has turned Ben Allen against his family’s wishes and back into the tourney! This is huge. We blasted him on this very blog and he is now stepping up like a champ. Team Powe also got one of their members back who was going to a concert instead of the tourney but has since changed his mind. I love the priorities fellas – good to have you back.
I just googled the ‘best trophy in sports’ and the lists came back with the Stanley Cup, the Heisman Trophy, and a few others. All wrong. My brother just got the new Headhunt Trophy back yesterday, and let me tell you, any of you would kill to have your name on this over anything else. This is where legends live. The trophy has the names of the past champions on it, and actually has room for up to 24 plates. If we make this to 24 Headhunts, I’ll be amazed. If we make it to 7 I’ll be amazed.
Either way, the winner will get their name on the new coolest trophy in all of sports. We will be parading this around town and hopefully keeping this at either the Hot Stove, Goose Hummock or Jake Rooneys year round. If you want to see the new hardware in person, it will be making it’s first public appearance tonight at the Hot Stove. My brother is bringing it by, with a few t-shirts. I can’t wait to see Mike O’Briens reaction (after a few cold ones) after seeing his name on this illustrious trophy, three separate times. That is better than Canton.
Team Jackal is taking the new ride out tomorrow, leaving around 4 am to hunt for tuna (first tuna trip ever for the rig) and maybe hit some bass on the way in. If anyone is out there, give us a call on the radio, or drop us an email today (headhunt@gmail.com) and let us know where you'll be. Either way, we'll throw some reports on here tomorrow and maybe drop in a video of the trip.
Still no word on Team Wizard and Harry Corduroy, which means the rumors must be true and they are wimping out of the tourney. Everyone always said they were wimpy, but I always defended them. I guess I was wrong..
Now they can see what they won’t have their names on.
The bass are in thick now out here on the southeast side of the Cape and the tuna reports are picking up which means that we are going to try and hit both species this Saturday.
Last week my father and I hit the rips just south of monomoy and once we found them we easily followed and fish for them as they feeding on squid by the hundreds. The fish were hitting the squid on the surface and my first thought was to cast at them with some sluggos and swimming plugs. It was weird how thick they were, yet not willing to hit the light tackle. There were a good five boats around us and no one was hooking up. I actually felt my jig head bounce off fish as I retrieved my lures.
After about 15 minutes of this and after realizing that I now have no idea where all of my different gear is on the new boat I switched over to the tried and true wire line set up with a small 3oz. lead head screamin banshee jig.
Instantly my dad and I were hooking up as the other vessels around us could not to the point where they eventually all left our edge. Every pass we hooked up as we were only fishing one rod and it was an instant strike once I set back the jig even though the fish were still also feeding on the surface.
We were actually just out for an afternoon spin not fully prepared to fish for any length of time but the few hours we had before we lost the tide was fantastic. Nothing over 20 pounds but we kept a few and let most of them go but it was nice to feel dialed in again as it has been a long time since I/we have fished our own boat.
The striper trophy is being set up with the plaques right now and will be available tomorrow so we will have that on display around town this weekend.
I was also a quest on the local Channel 18 today talking about the tournament which will air this Friday in Harwich starting at 11am and 6pm. I am going to try and get a clip for you tube even though it is not that exciting but they want to film us at the weigh in and re-interview us after the event.
They were a great group of people and they have a sweet studio for such a small operation.
Thanks again Cable Channel 18.
Wish us luck this weekend and into commercial season which also starts this weekend.
Is it true that the Wizard and Corduroy are limping into this event again?
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