About Schoolie
The Cheeky Schoolie Tournament is all about Conservation. The Saturday of the 13th annual Schoolie Tournament was a beast. The Cape weather came to play ball. But, for those who braved the elements, it was also a year that produced large striped bass.
We had some astounding scores come in, topped by our winning team with 129.75 inches split between 4 fish. Team Hookshank Redemption (Mike Andresino & Tim Porelle) took the honors. This was a tournament record by more than 10 inches set last year.
Second place went to Two Docs (Kevin Osantowski & Nate Fritts) with 126 inches while 3rd place was Team Schoolie (Chuck Scott & Marc Savaria) with 124.75 inches. All three top teams, plus the next four would have won the tournament last year.
We also had a true beast landed by Eric Passante. A 39-inch dandy of a fish. In what is a quintessential Schoolie moment typifying the spirit of the tournament, Eric gave up his prize to the youngest competitor, Roisin Ball, age 12!
The Science
Our contribution to Catch and Release science was on display throughout the tournament as Dr. Andy Danychuk's lab led by Olivia Dinkelacker with UMass Amherst continued to utilize the event the event to collect data on how striped bass respond to catch and release. Although we saw large fish, the younger age classes were lacking. This is a systemic problem and one that we have figure out if we want to have this fish around at all in the future.
Striped Bass Conservation
Every year the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament, with the help of participants and great sponsors gives away all the proceeds to striped bass conservation. In the past 5 years alone we have raised over $150k for striped bass conservation.
In 2023 with our sponsors, partners and participants we were able to raise almost $31k towards striped bass conservation.
At the 2024 Tournament, Fly Fisherman Magazine’s Ross Purnell and Simms John Frazier commemorated the event by giving out the Conservationist of the year award to Peter Jenkins of American Saltwater Guides Association, donating an additional $10,000 to the cause.
With that $10,000 and the $37, 540 raised by the tournament, we donated a whopping $47,540 to our partners ASGA, Stripers Forever, and Keep Fish Wet.