LARGEST SURF FISHING TOURNAMENT IN THE WORLD!
The Cape Hatteras Anglers Club Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament has been held every November since 1958. There are 120 teams of six members each invited to participate in the Tournament, and they fish in beach zones in morning and afternoon sessions on both Thursday and Friday. Saturday features the Bob Bernard Open Individual Tournament. This contest is open to any interested angler, but pre-registration is required.
The tournament is truly an island-wide event with the majority of businesses advertising in our souvenir book and receiving copies of the book for use in their businesses. Many families visit the Island along with the anglers and judges to participate in various other activities. Representatives from many equipment companies display their goods at our Sponsors’ Tackle Show at the club, which draws in participants and many of the locals to see what’s new and to enjoy complimentary refreshments. The final event is a "Brag and Award Night" held Friday evening at the clubhouse.
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Awards for the Bob Bernard Open Individual Tournament are presented at the close of that tournament on Saturday. All award winners from both tournaments are photographed and published in the following year’s souvenir book and on social media.
How to Secure an Invitation
The Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament is a team event. A fishing team consists of not more than 6 persons with one member appointed to serve as team captain. All anglers on the team must fish the entire tournament.
Invitations are sent to the 120 teams who fished the year before. Teams invited to fish the tournament must return their application form along with their entry fee (at present the entry fee is $450 per team) by the published due date. If a team fails to submit their entry fee or declines to fish twice, that team is removed from the invitational list, creating a vacancy for a team on the waiting list. In this case, the first team on the tournament waiting list is invited to fish. Currently, we have a long waiting list of teams (approximately 33 teams not on the annual invitational list). If a waiting list team declines to fish twice when invited, that team is moved to the bottom of the waiting list.
Call for Judges
Can’t fish but still want to participate? No problem. The Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament requires 2 or more judges for 4 teams of anglers – this means we need at least 60 judges to participate. Many of the people serving as judges are NOT club members but simply want to be involved. Serving as a judge can be quite a bit of fun. In fact, some people prefer to the role of judge to that of angler. Interested? Click here for a judge’s application, or call/email/come into the office.
Final Notes
The prizes and awards for this tournament are made possible by the generosity of our sponsors and local businesses that advertise in the Tournament program book. Please patronize and/or thank these establishments. In addition to financial support, a tournament of this magnitude would not be possible without manpower. The Cape Hatteras Anglers’ Club has been fortunate with respect to the number of people (members and non-members alike) who have given their time to help make our tournaments enjoyable for all. We would like to extend a special thanks to all who have given so generously of their time!
