The 74th Striped Bass and Bluefish derby is officially in the books. And though it was not a record breaking year in terms of the number of fish weighed in, there was one huge record broken at the awards ceremony on Sunday at Farm Neck Golf Club.
Ten-year-old Aubrey Warburton became the youngest angler in derby history to take home the grand prize car, a brand new Subaru Impreza, after she heard the signature click of a padlock at the final key ceremony.
“I was so nervous,” Aubrey said as she was swarmed in celebration by family members. Aubrey’s nervousness showed as she covered her eyes when Greg Clark and 11-year-old Westley Wlodyka tried their keys before her.
Left on stage was Aubrey’s brother Mason Warburton, age 12. Though he didn’t get a chance to try his key before his sister, Mason said he was excited just to have the car in the family.
Aubrey thanked the derby committee, her teammate Elizabeth Thompson (their team, Girls Kick Bass, came in second place overall in the team division at 66.58 pounds), and Elizabeth’s family for taking her fishing when her family’s boat broke down.
But most of all she thanked her father, for “spending time and effort to make [her] a great fisher-girl.”
Aubrey’s father, Nick, said the time and effort paid off when she brought her enormous 20.19-pound bluefish to the scale with only 51 minutes remaining in the final weigh-in of the derby.
“They weighed in a lot of fish,” said derby committee chairman Joe El-Deiry of the Warburton family, who won plenty of other junior and overall divisions besides the grand leaderboards. “They’re all great fishermen.”
Winning the 19-foot Cape Codder fishing boat at the key ceremony was Island fisherman Shawn Emin with his 12.13-pound false albacore landed from the shore. Mr. Emin thanked his friends for “always making him take one more cast.” And though he prefers fishing from shore, he said he is excited for the opportunity to try his hand at fishing in deeper water.
Mr. Emin was the first of the shore winners to try his key. Robert Bottary, Clinton Fisher and Lewis Colby, the other three leaders in the shore divisions, all helped him celebrate when they heard the lock click.
“Although the fishing was challenging this year, the derby was still a success in many ways,” said Mr. El-Deiry.
He cited the 3,466 registrations, the second most in derby history, the $42,500 in scholarships raised, and said this year marked the 100th scholarship the derby has awarded.
He also paid tribute to Ed Jerome, longtime president of the derby committee, who died during last year’s derby.
“As [Ed] used to say. . . The derby was not really about fish, but rather it was about the people,” Mr. El-Deiry said. “That sentiment could not be more true on a year like this one.”
Of the many people that help each year to make the derby a success, two were inducted into the Derby Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Chris Scott, treasurer of the derby committee and longtime angler, along with former chairman and weigh master Mike Cassidy, became the 37th and 38th members of the hall of fame.
In one late change on the leaderboard, Mr. El-Deiry confirmed Monday that the fish leading the shore-caught striped bass flyrod division was removed from the competition.
The fish, weighing in at 25.11 pounds, was brought into derby headquarters last week by Anthony Marcantonio. The fish was almost 10 pounds heavier than the former shore-caught fly rod striped bass division leader, and immediately vaulted Mr. Marcantonio to the top of the leaderboard.
Mr. Marcantonio was pictured with his fish on the front page of the Gazette last week.
Mr. El-Deiry said Mr. Marcantonio volunteered to remove the fish on Friday before the awards ceremony.
“On occasion, an angler will choose to remove a fish,” said Mr. El-Deiry said, who said he could not provide exact details.
Mr. Marcantonio told the Gazette Monday he decided to pull the fish after derby officials questioned status of his recreational fishing license. He said there was no record of his license online, and while he had proof of purchasing the license through a credit card statement, it was not enough to prove validity to the derby committee.
“I completely understand, and I would want the same fairness if it were somebody else in this position,” Mr. Marcantonio said. “The committee had a job to do and they did it well.”
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