by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish
It’s August 20, 2023, and the inaugural August Blues tournament is in high gear. I’m feeling pretty good as I have my morning coffee and check the leaderboard. There I am, sitting on top of the hill for the Gator Blue category (the longest bluefish), thanks to a 36-inch beast that I had caught on August 12. Good times, good times!
Two thirds of the month was gone, and I had a shot at a major prize. Now I’m pretty good at math, so I did a little calculating: if I couple that monster blue with two average but respectable 30-inch fish, I’d be at 96 total inches. Hmmm… How would that stack up for the Triple Strike part of the contest, the grand prize of the August Blues event? I scroll up and see some familiar names. My brother, Bill Tornovish, is in third place with three fish totaling 88 inches. Noah Karberg, a threat in every fishing tournament, is in second place with his three best fish at 94.5 inches. Hey, my total of 96 inches would be looking mighty fine! Yeah, I’d only be 1.5 inches behind the leader, who is… wait, what? Tedy Bruschi is leading the tournament? That Tedy Bruschi? The New England Patriots Hall of Fame linebacker and team captain? The dude with three Super Bowl rings, the all-time leading tackler for the Dynasty? Yes indeed, that Tedy Bruschi!
“This was my first ever fishing tournament. I’ve fished everywhere else I’ve lived, mostly freshwater, but I was sort of a rookie for surf casting.”
Tedy and his family had just moved into their new Nantucket house in June of 2023. He knew that he would need some help to get the lay of the land. “Where do you go when you’re looking to learn about a new place to fish? You go to the tackle shops and ask for people who would know. On the Cape, it was the guys from Red Top Sporting Goods who showed me how to fish the Cape Cod Canal. Here, I got hooked up with Dan Holmes. He took me and Dante (Tedy’s older son) out shark fishing. We went out again, and I caught stripers, blues, and even a sea robin!” Dan, my fellow beach guide, was a great coach for Tedy. He taught Tedy the basics of casting, the where, when, and how to fish and what to use. It’s very clear that Tedy is grateful for Dan’s excellent guidance. And that he was an apt student.
A couple other island beach warriors helped Tedy take some big steps. “I met Greg (Chotkowski) and Rick (Ramos) when fishing out at Low Beach. They really welcomed me. Greg showed me all about bucktailing and how to fish all through the water column. He was like a Yoda to me!”
Tedy also learned about the August Blues Tournament from Greg and Rick. This tournament was created to raise money to help support The Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, an organization dedicated to ending Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Greg and Rick put their hearts and souls into getting the tournament off the ground. It was no small task. Greg had developed the idea of the contest as a way to honor his son, Augie, who has DMD. Rick and many others in our awesome fishing community jumped in to help in any way they could. People volunteered to organize, sponsor, manage, and support this cause. In spite of all odds, the tournament took off. The competition was hot and the participants had a blast.
“I heard about the cause, and I was all in. It was all new to me: catch the fish, measure it, take the picture, send it in. Wow!” Tedy loved the competition and fished it very hard. And a very cool thing happened along the way. Tedy went from being known as the amazing professional football player to being seen as a solid, skilled fisher who earned his place on the tournament leaderboard—he was no longer a rookie.
The 2024 August Blues Tournament, Nantucket’s summer fishing event, is ready for liftoff. This tournament has a place for every fisher: beach, boat, and juniors (age 17 and younger). Thanks to the sponsorship by Nantucket Oral Surgery, the junior fishers can participate for free. All that a junior angler needs to do is submit their catch to be entered. One of the tournament goals in 2024 is to get the next generation of fishers started. There’s so many great prizes available in the junior category to make this happen. I’m counting on my Nantucket Goonies to submit a load of fish and represent! There’s also a fun new family event in this year’s tournament.
Prizes will also be awarded for the first bonito, the first false albacore, the smallest bluefish, and the unicorn fish (a fish caught that is not commonly found in the Nantucket fishery).
The emphasis is always on the fun in this tournament, but the cause that gave rise to it is very serious cause. Proceeds from the August Blues tournament help fund Parents Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD). From parentprojectmd.org: “Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy fights to end Duchenne. We accelerate research, raise our voices to impact policy, demand optimal care for every single family, and strive to ensure access to approved therapies.”
Greg and Augie recently took a long road trip to Orlando, FL for the annual PPMD gathering. I spoke with Pat Furlong, the President and CEO of PPMD. Pat was amazed by what the Nantucket fishing community achieved last year, raising $15,000! Pat told me, “I’ve known Greg and Augie for years. Greg is so very kind and innovative. A person needs a lot of creativity to care for someone with Duchenne.” Pat thought that the tournament idea was perfect: “We’re all fishing for treatments and cures.”
So how exactly did Tedy and I end up in our quest for the top spots in the 2023, you ask? Well, work rudely interrupted Tedy’s beach fishing, as he had to take to the road in his job as an analyst for the Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, a role he’s had since 2009. That allowed my brother, Bill Tornovish, to sneak in and capture the Triple Strike title with 100.50 total inches.
And as for me? Well, my arch nemesis, Gray Malitsky, pulled in a gator bluefish that measured 36.5 inches and knocked me into second place. Whomp, whomp, whomp… For those who don’t know Gray, he’s an awesome young fisher who will be starting his freshman year at Colby College this September. Until then, you can meet him at either Bill Fisher Tackle or on the beach at Great Point, where he specializes in humbling cocky old fishing dudes.
I asked Tedy how Coach Bill Belichick would evaluate his current beach fishing game. “How would he scout me? Hmmm…. Casting has improved, still needs work on the bucktailing game. Knows how to work the water, still has a lot of work to do, plenty of room for improvement.” Tedy strives to get better every time he hits the beach. He has also stepped up to help support PPMD through the August Blues Tournament by donating the autographed red New England Patriots jersey pictured here. This jersey will be awarded to the beach angler with the longest bluefish in the 2024 tournament. Thus, that prize will now be known as the BruFish award!
Please sign up today at Augustbluesnantucket.com and have a fantastic month of fishing for a great cause!
Steve “Tuna” Tornovish is a Nantucket native who has spent his life fishing from the beaches of his beloved island. He loves to introduce clients to the joy of fishing with his Nantucket Island Fishing Adventures: stevetuna.com
