New Tournament Is A Fall Classic In The Making
Rob Miller has been fishing the rips off Chatham, Massachusetts, and Nantucket for 15 years. “These are amazing, beautiful waters, and I’ve had some terrific days,” Miller says. “It’s a great way to fish with light tackle and catch active, feeding striped bass.”
Miller has won at least 10 local tournaments during the past several seasons, including this September’s inaugural Nantucket Classic. His four-person team caught and released 72 striped bass aboard his 33-foot Southport center console Summer Place to take the $3,000 firstplace prize. The two-day tourney, held Sept. 23-25 at the Nantucket Boat Basin, was presented by Soundings and produced and managed by the magazine’s parent company, Active Interest Media. Anglers fished for stripers, bluefish, false albacore and bonito.
“I’d say our average fish was about 36 inches,” says Miller, who lives in Centerville, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. “We caught all of the fish in the space of about five or six hours on the first day. It was crazy, nonstop action. The stripers had to be at least 28 inches, and we had to measure and photograph every fish.” Miller’s team, which included David Rose, Les Schwom and Bob Lewis, fished St. Croix Mojo casting rods with Van Staal reels and 30-pound-test fluorocarbon line, throwing Tady lures.
Miller enjoys competitive fishing, but he really gets a charge out of teaching novice anglers — kids, in particular — how to catch fish in the rips. Handkerchief Shoals and Bearse Shoal off Monomoy and Old Man Shoal off Nantucket’s southeast tip are some of his favorite haunts. “It’s more about the people in the boat than the fish,” Miller says. “I like to make it really fun for them, and to me this type of fishing is ideal for that. There’s nothing better than when they get hookup after hookup on every pass through the rip.”
Miller fished a 1985 32-foot Blackfin flybridge before taking delivery of the 2016 Southport 33 FE in June. Powered by twin Yamaha F300s, the Southport puts him closer to the fishing action, and on a center console that can be anywhere from bow to stern. “I love to hear the laughter of the guys and squeals of the girls,” says Miller, who is part owner of an insurance company.
He’s thrilled with the speed and fuel economy of the center console, which he refers to as his little rocket. “I would cruise at 24 knots in the Blackfin, but I can cruise at 31 knots in the Southport and still get better fuel economy,” Miller says. Rob Miller and three other fishermen aboard the Southport 33 won this fall’s inaugural Nantucket Classic tournament.
40 blues
Rhode Islander Craig DaPonte cruised into second place fishing his 26-foot NorthCoast center console with twin Suzuki DF250s. He and his crew caught and released 40 bluefish in two days to take home a $2,500 purse.
The weather was pleasant on the first day of fishing, but the action was slow, he says. A 12- to 15-knot wind greeted the anglers on the second day, and DaPonte’s crew fared better, catching and releasing more than 30 blues. “The rip was standing straight up, and we started casting into it,” DaPonte says, referring to Bonito Bar, just outside Madaket Harbor. “We figured if we can get a ton of blues to win, we’ll do it,” he says. “We had double and triple