South Jersey's 29th Annual Shark Tournament attracted 144 boats, and with $298,670 in total prize money and 589 fish caught, nobody went home disappointed. But the real story this year was less about the number and size of the shark brought in to Weighmaster Chris Booth, rather it was about the sportsmanship displayed by the participants.

Stories! Better yet, Fish Stories! We've all heard 'em, and maybe we've told a few ourselves. How about the story of the crew aboard Paul Rys's Hot Works who got their BIG bite late in the day on Day One. The thresher was so big, and the crew struggled so long to get it into the boat that they blew right through the scale closing deadline of 7:30 and missed weighing what would have been the biggest fish of the tournament by 41 pounds. Like all really good fish stories, this one does have a happy ending. An application has been filed with the State of New Jersey that should put the Hot Works and her crew into the State record books.

This year's Shark Tournament was one of the "fishiest" in years. Altogether, 95 mako's were caught with 74 released, 471 blues caught, with 460 released, 12 thresher caught with 2 released, while 3 "other species" were caught, 2 of which were released. In total numbers, of the 589 shark caught, 546 were returned to the ocean to play another day. That's a release rate of about 93%; and that's sportsmanship! Well done to our 2009 Shark Fishermen.

Finally, we've saved the best for last. No one better exemplified sportsmanship in this tournament than Bill Garrison aboard the Miss Andrea on Day Two. Late in the day, the crew aboard Miss Andrea hooked up what would turn out to be a 586 pound thresher, a "money" fish that would have claimed prize money for Second Heaviest Shark. We say "would have" because, totally on his on accord, Bill reported that the hook-up occurred at 4:32…...two minutes past the allowable time as stipulated in the tournament rules.

Everyone who fishes around here already knows that Bill Garrison is a class act, but on Saturday, Captain Bill set the standard for class and sportsmanship.

Well done, and thank you Bill Garrison.

When all was said and done, Steve King's Fat Cat took home the money for Heaviest Shark with a 590 pound thresher; local charter boat captain, Clint Clement aboard his Common Sense took the prize for 2nd Heaviest Shark with a 567 pound thresher and Mark Larsen aboard the Good Times II took 3rd place honors for the 3rd heaviest shark with another thresher, a 537 pounder.

Top Mako money, and tournament money went to Pat Mastronardo aboard the 100 Proof with a 232 pound monster. In close second place, was Bubba Remster aboard his Miss Edna Jane who boated a 212 pound beauty and took second place dollars. Pat also won prize money for heaviest mako, Day One, while Bubba took it for heaviest mako, Day Two.

Finally, Ed Joyce, aboard his Rejoyce took top money in the blue shark category.

In the prestigious point categories, both Most Points Blue and Most Points Overall went to Terry Horgan in the Size Matters, while John Peterson in the Unreel took Most Points Mako.

This was a great tournament. The weather guessers didn't help us out much when they predicted snotty weather for Friday, but as usual, they were wrong. Thanks to a superb weather committee who ventured out early to find a perfect fishing day, the tournament went off without a hitch.

Many thanks to the many sponsors who made this event possible, including Sturdy Savings Bank, Engines Inc, Shell, Costa Marine Canvas, Pure Fishing, Penn Tackle, Sea Tow, Pelagic, Marine Safety, Cape Harbor Marine Service, WKR Construction, Premier Detailing, Joe Canal's, Craig J. Manno Construction, and Offshore Electronics.

Many thanks also to the Copper Fish, Lucky Bones, C-View Tavern, Lobster House, Cabana's and WAWA for providing snacks, samples and hospitality at the Captain's Meeting.

But most of all, many thanks to our anglers who made this year's 29th Shark Tournament all about sportsmanship.