Considered by many anglers to be New Jersey’s premier shark fishing contest, the original Mako Mania tournament turns 30 this May. Based out of the Manasquan River Club in Brick, the competition reels in more than 1,500 anglers each year with entrants mostly coming from the Jersey Coast but also from surrounding states including NY and Pennsylvania. The tourney kicks off with a Captain’s meeting on Friday, June 26, followed by lines in the water on both Saturday and Sunday. An awards dinner and presentation await all crews on the Thursday evening following the contest.
“Having started out in 1985, there’s plenty history behind this event,” says Capt. Pete Grimbilas, who has served 20 out of the 30 years as tourney director since Mako Mania’s inception. “It’s a great time and a great cause. Our goals are to simply have fun, catch some sharks and give our anglers a chance to win big-money prizes. We’ll use profits to help out local charities along the way, and give back to the fishing environment by funding reef building projects off the New Jersey coast.”
So far, the contest has lived up to its stated promise. Last year, for example, prize-winners cruised away with a combined $242,000 while monies raised were distributed to the Deborah Heart and Lung Center hospital and funneled into reef building projects. The Greater Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association, which runs the tournament, has been working with the State of New Jersey’s reef program since 1995 and, according to Grimbilas, has used contest earnings to help deploy and sink more vessels on New Jersey reefs than any other entity along the Jersey Coast.
“Over the years we’ve added everything from army tanks to tankers and barges,” revealed Grimbilas. “Several years ago, we sank two 185-foot oil tankers. We’ve also sent barge loads of concrete pipe to the bottom, and that makes great fish habitat. One barge load alone cost $110,000 to deploy. There are 15 artificial reefs off the New Jersey Coast and we’ve had a part in funding many of them but our real emphasis is on the Manasquan Inlet area with Axel Carlson, Sea Girt and Shark River reefs the prime recipients of added structure.”
Thinking back to the tournament’s early days, Grimbilas recalls the charter boat association being organized initially to help its members book more charters and purchase tackle collectively. “We had 20 members when this thing first got started,” he noted – and the very first Mako Mania tourney had only a dozen entries. Last year we had 306 boats.
One of our biggest highlights came back in 1988 when Captain Harry Thorne’s charter, Jim Kneipp, broke the NJ state great white shark record with a whopping 759-pound white – the only shark caught in the tournament that year.”
Actually, there were some years in the beginning of the contest when no sharks at all made it back to the dock and prizes had to be given out raffle style. Although the tourney has always been mako only, any shark that came back to the dock was put on the scales in the early days. “Looking back now,” says Grimbilas, “that was the wrong thing to do. Now we weigh only makos with a minimum size limit of 66 inches. We are very conservation minded; we want to see the shark population continue to grow as it has in recent years.”
Along with the prize money and a reputation for being an event as much as a contest, the camaraderie and friendly competition between Mako Mania skippers has continued to grow as well. Grimbilas notes that some crews have fished the tournament together since its earliest years, making the Captain’s Meeting each year feel like a homecoming reunion. Add in the newer entrants with their fresh ideas and techniques to keep the competition fresh, and you’ve got a really great mix that adds to the fun and excitement.
Following the tourney’s usual format, the action begins this year with a 5:30 a.m. kick-off and continues through 26 hours of serious shark fishing. Contending weigh-ins usually begin arriving at the Crystal Point Marina dock around noon each day, where the public is welcomed and hundreds of spectators turn out to see who will ultimately top the leader board. The competition concludes with proud winners collecting their prizes at the Awards Party on the Thursday evening following the tourney, at the River Rock Restaurant and Marina Bar. “Come on down and check out the catches,” invites Grimbilas. “You’ll have a great time seeing what Mako Mania is all about.”
For entry forms, rules and additional information about the Mako Mania Tournament, check out makomanianj.com.
I just read your post on the Mako Tourney and I applaud your efforts to rebuild and enhance fishery habitats and your charity contributions. It is well known that Makos are top game fish for anglers and I support catch and release. However, seeing that incredibly beautiful mako hanging upside down and looking dead and with your policy of only docking those that are 66″ and over is flawed because it is those larger sharks that are possibly sexually mature to reproduce.
It is estimated that 9 out of 10 large Makos have already been removed from our marine environment, we only have the remaining 10% to keep this species on our planet. Being Pelagic makes them vulnerable to black market shark fin long liners and we are losing them faster than they can reproduce. I understand that your activity has probably zero impact on the sustainability of Mako populations but I still had to post this thread.
I am a commercial fisherman and owner operator of an independent 65 ft sailing fisher targeting only pelagic species but releasing most bill fish. I have a commercial license for the state of Hawaii . My crew and I have a zero tolerance in taking of any shark species and no sharks are dying on our lines due to our gear. (No long lines). If caught, they are immediately released. It would probably create better PR for your organization if you come up with an alternative method of catching, weighing and then releasing these incredible sharks back into the oceans. Those methods are already successfully in place used by shark researchers..it is not rocket science. Regards Greg Lombardo