A little rain couldn't dampen the spirits of 38 captains, their crew and young anglers who hit the Chesapeake Bay Friday morning for the Casey Cares 1st Annual Rockfish Tournament.
The tournament was the brainchild of John Sovero, a Catonsville native, who sits on the Casey Cares advisory boards. The 38 boats represented a sell out for the tournament.
"We are always excited to try new events at Casey Cares," said Casey Baynes, founder and executive director of Casey Cares. "John has worked tremendously hard on this event. John has always been very philanthropic in the community. As a business leader in the community with 1st Team Staffing, John has always been proactive and willing to make changes. The same is true with his involvement with Casey Cares. Having spent years working on our Golf Tournament, he wanted to try something new this year and he went all out on this fishing tournament. And you can see he reeled us in hook, line and sinker!"
One of the great moments from the day came when Kevin Buck reeled in his first fish. Kevin is 12 years old and has been diagnosed and treated for a rare disease called Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH). Kevin and his dad were able to go out with one of the boats and spend time together fishing.
The tournament awarded prizes for 1st and 2nd place for largest fish by weight. Top honors went to Bill Judge who pulled in a rockfish that tipped the scales at 22.65 pounds. Second place went to Jason Zagalsky who weighed in a 16.35 pound rockfish.
The day wrapped up with a Captain's Party at The Inn at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville.
* Jeff Herman is the assistant news director at WMAR | ABC2. His main passion while not at work is fishing. This column is part of a series of columns he writes for our outdoors page. You can read more of his columns here. Follow him on Twitter@JeffABC2News and @TightLinesABC2
