The ultimate Block Island trip for the troops auction
 

The cause:
This trip will go to the highest bidder and will be to raise money for the Home Base Program , to help soldiers and veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries suffered from their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. The winning donation will be made DIRECTLY to the organization at Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program and will be a 100% tax deductible charitable donation for the highest bidder.


Your experience:
COMMANDO SURFCASTING SPONSORED TRIP

Dates & Location: June 13th - 15th Block Island, RI.
Details:
Three day, two night, fully guided surfcasting trip for one person. (Must be 18 to bid)
Note: If bidding surpasses the $1000.00 mark this trip will become a 4 day three night trip for the winning bidder.

Just fishing beneath the bluffs on Block Island will have you instantly hooked. Whether you're a hardcore wetsuiter or like staying dry in your waders this trip will be something you remember forever.
Lodging will be in an Island style home that sleeps 8. Amenities are not really important because you will be fishing long nights and sleeping during the day. Rest up and expect to be fully exhausted at the end of this trip. There will be plenty of food and you are not expected to bring anything except your fishing gear, a well rested body and a great attitude.
You will not need a vehicle on the island. If you plan to bring a vehicle reservations must be made ASAP with the Block Island Ferry once bidding closes and you will be responsible for ferry cost.
The trip -
The Commando Pro Staff will pre-fish the island for 4 nights prior to your arrival. They will have a full report and offer you choices of where to fish depending on your fishing style or what you're comfortable with. You will fish many of the big fish spots that are known and some that have never been heard of. If you want to fish plugs, eels (available on the Island), jigs or tins it's up to you. This is your trip enjoy it.
This will be a great opportunity to ask questions, hear some stories, learn some history and even take a chance at putting a fish on the board in the Pabst Blue Ribbon Tournament which coincides with this trip.
Total Guides combined experience of over 100 years of fishing Block Island.

Guided by:
Tom White - Commando Surfcasting
Pete Lajoie - Commando Pro Staff, RH Custom Rods Pro Staff
Guest Guides
Gary Soldati - Big Water Lures (13th)
Pat Abate - Rivers End Tackle (13th)
Dennis Zambrotta - Author (14th-15th)

The winning bidder will be responsible to get himself to and from Block Island, his own fishing equipment and any other incidental expenses he incurs. Donation to RTHB must be within 3 days of auction closing.


Additional:
Joebaggs Bucktails just donated a 6 pack of bucktails to the winner.
3- 1oz in red,wht, and black and 3-1.5oz in the same colors.
2 BI Danny swimmers (courtesy of Piemma)
4 rigged eels (courtesy Pat Abate)
A pilgrim and a eely (courtesy of Left Hook Lures)
Your ferry cost will be covered from Pt Judith (courtesy of the Lajoie family)
Super Strike plugs, proven producers on Block Island (courtesy of Super Strike Plugs)
Private dinner on the 13th at the Naragansett Inn and a package of Lemire Plugworks plugs (courtesy of Al Lemire)



Bidding will end April 30 at 6PM

Disclaimer: Commando Surfcasting and all other parties involved assume no risk or liability for any personal injury, death, equipment loss or failure. You will also be responsible to sign a release prior any activity.

Awesome! I'll start...

$400

-spence

Bidding is open until the 30th
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

$400
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Whoops.. meant $500
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I feel honored to take part in this most noble cause and I’d like to thank Tom White for inviting me. Let me add that I will provide the winning bidder the most enlightening "spot burn" opportunities - the winner will STAND ON rocks that are proven "cow perches” where
50s have been slid ashore on past tides. I look forward to the privilege of meeting the highest bidder.

DZ

Def. a great oppertunity for anyone. I have fish with Tom, Pete, and Pat many times and with the knowledge they have and determination this oppertunity comes once in a life time. You will learn as well as catch fish..

$600

Looks like a dream trip, great job on putting this together.

-spence

What a line up of talent. If I thought I could
keep up with any of them I would bid this up even
past point that Soups faints. Why now, why not
ten years ago. Any able body who doesn't bid
on this will regret it for a longtime.
And that's the truff.
:love:

eels
 

Sorry john. Eels, eel rigs, braided line, that I have too supply, does take a toll on my finances.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

All the credit needs to go to Tom from Commando. This is all his initiative, his money, time, and contacts. I am just fortunate enough to call him a friend and a supporter of my cause.

And we just sweetened the pot.
Joebaggs Bucktails just donated a 6 pack of bucktails to the winner.
3- 1oz in red,wht, and black and 3-1.5oz in the same colors.

I will donate 2 BI Danny swimmers proven to slay the dragon on "The Block". Winner gets his pick

:drool: This is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed I have learned a lot fishing with DZ the past 6 years on BI :drool:

Sounds like a sick trip.

DZ is super helpful and Tom is a great guy, heard all about his "block bible"

Will have to see about work, might have to get in on this bid

Ultimate Block Trip Auction Questions Thread
 

I am going to start a seperate thread to answer questions and do some posts. I am amazed at the generosity here and can't thank guys enough...

Well Now that i have "gotten permission" from the better half to jump in for a chance to support a great cause and fish with great people (although She did tell me if i don't play my cards right she may take it if i win), i will bid $ 700.00

My bank account is near empty but i would like to help. I will donate 1 dozen tail hooks to whomever wins

This is very cool.

Wish I could afford to up the bid. Wow.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Nice work guys - If you haven't fished the Block - it is something special :love:

Block!
 

I would like to thank Tom for the opportunity to be part of this, Block is a special place and the perfect spot to hold this event!! I am not expecting the person to be fishing sluggos when they fish with me, so I will be bring a supply of Big Water Pikes for the winner! Good Luck!! :uhuh:Gary

$750.

I want to thank the sponsors, guides and the bidders too. What a tremendous idea and cause. Great job, Tom! Really cool idea. I'm seeing this 10 years from now with a serious following.

I'm over budget as it is (DTR about to start college in Sept.--yikes) and the bidding is out of my league--which is a good thing for this worthy cause. I commend you all. I'll make a donation and start saving for next year's event. An opportunity to fish Block with these legends of the sport would be an incredible experience.

An early congratulations to the winner.

BTW--Tom knows his way around the kitchen, so I'm guessing the chow will be good too.

Nice job, boys!

I'm In, $800.00

just wanted to say thanks to everyone involved. This is a great cause and either way a donation is being made:chased:

Im honored to take part in this,its for a great cause. It will certainly be a great trip for whoever wins. Block island can be a great place to fish and can also be very humbling at times. You will learn things on this trip, you cant learn in any book or any website. Good luck to all the bidders.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone that has donated or volunteered their time , efforts , or money to make this all possible and help me with my fundraising. Thanks guys.

just don't go out for "a beer" with pete at 1 pm on a day you plan on fishing (although that day was probably better for us than those who made it out to fish).

in all seriousness though, this will be a great trip for whomever wins. those guys know the island and are a good bunch.

Who ever wins this will have a trip of a lifetime. Block is it's own beast. I hope you get some white water....it makes for an insane day bite. Those guys love the night I like the day the top water bite can be great... Needles in yellow and sandeel. I might try and do a recon mission that weekend.

Riggies to take with you
 

I'll throw in 4 rigged eels for the trip, they can come in handy out there.

This may not appeal to all bidders BUT - if you like largemouth bass fishing - and the porkchop has some really nice fish - I'll take you to some sweetwater bass locations. On this schedule the winning bidder may never sleep.

DZ

Sounds sick, I'm in!! $850

Block!
 

Block holds a lot of fish and they tend to be bigger than on the mainland. A night like this is always possible:

Two friends and I decided to head out for a commando night on Block Island on Friday, October 9, 2009. (A “commando run” is where you get onto an island or predetermined area at the end of the day then fish all night and leave in the morning). We heard there was some weather coming in which made it all the better. I worked all day, packed my truck and headed south from where I live. After a 3-hour drive with traffic, I walked on the last ferry at Point Judith at 7 p.m., after meeting up with my two friends Ted Archibald and Tom White. Being a holiday weekend there were lots of kids and dogs but not many fishermen. When a couple people asked us if we were going for the whole weekend we said, "No, just for the night." To a person, they looked at us funny.
Once on the island we arrived at our destination and got into our wetsuits. It was dark, so we decided to take a few casts close by before making our trek to our special spot. There was not much wind and it seemed pretty calm, not what we had in mind weather-wise, we favor wind and waves. The night started off inauspiciously. No wind and flat calm, these conditions did not do a lot for our confidence. On Tom's second cast he broke off a plug that I had just given him to try out. (Make note of this it will be important later.) It was a “Slim” medium diver, in purple pearl. He could see it floating out in the water and asked me if he should swim out and get it. There did not seem to be any fish around so I said, "Go for it!" On his second attempt he got the plug.

At that point Ted came up to us and said he had some hits and caught one small bass. I had heard there were lots of small fish around so I was not surprised. You hate to leave fish but we were looking for something bigger. I had also read a report that had said there were a lot of porgies (scup) along the side of the island that I wanted to fish. So off we went.

We arrived at our spot and spotted the rocks we always fished from. Ted was the first to make the swim out to his rock, he later told me that while swimming, his lure, a giant pikie, came off his rod (still attached to his line) and floated 4 feet away from him and a fish hit it! The fish took 2 more swipes at it. He had to hold his rod up and keep the plug out of the water until he got to his rock.
By this time, Tom and I were swimming out to our rock (I have fished this rock since the mid-1980's so, like homesteading, I have a claim to it). I yelled to Ted asking if he had found his rock yet. If he is on his rock it would be easier for me to find my rock because mine was underwater. He yelled back that he found fish! I said, "How big?" and he yelled back, "20." I said, "Inches?" He said, "no pounds.” Needless to say we swam a little faster.
Tom and I climbed onto my rock, a good-sized rock that is easily capable of holding both of us. We got situated, looked at each other and then each made a cast. We both made two turns on the handle of ours reel and we were into fish. We looked at each other with big smiles…that was the beginning of a night of fishing that most surfcasters only dream about.

For the next 2-1/2 hours I did not bring my Pikie back in without a fish attached. At one point, Tom brought his Pike back in after he lost a screamer and two hooks on his 4/0 VMC treble had been straightened. He asked, "What do I do?" I said "Bend them back and keep fishing!" He ended up catching more than 50 fish on that “Slim” medium diver that he swam out and retrieved earlier.
My first 6 fish were 26, 26, 28, 33, 28, and 36, and we're talking pounds here! And we are only talking six casts! All the fish were weighed on the 60-pound Boga that I drag around with me. We had multiple hookups and at one point Tom had a 31-pounder and I had a 28-pounder to the rock at the same time. It was like a Chinese fire drill weighing each fish, taking a picture, unhooking them and getting them back in the water. After awhile we got pretty good at it.
My wife had asked me to bring home a fish for dinner. She doesn't like to eat anything over 30 inches because she finds the meat to be more tender. Oh boy was I was in trouble!!

I will pause here to say that this was not "stupid fishing." The fish would not take a Jointed Eel, and when the other guys used a needlefish they only caught smaller fish and did not get as many hits. The vast majority of the fish came on my new “Slim” pikes (8-inches long and weighing 3 ounces), but the bigger fish came on my traditional Giant pikes (8-inch and 4 ounces) and Troller pikes (10-inches and 7-1/2 ounces).
I have been fishing for a long time and I have had many good nights in that time span. There have been nights where we got into a pick of big fish or solid hits of smaller fish but never in my life have I see the numbers of big fish that we saw on that October night. The school stayed with us through the entire tide until daybreak and they were keyed in on big baits—it was amazing!

As a rule you don't walk away from big fish, but we did. We actually swam away exhausted. On my way in, I swam over to Ted and asked him how he was doing. He said he had lost all his big pikes and was using a needlefish and not getting as many hits. I cut off the Giant Pike that I had on my rod and threw it to him and then finished swimming to shore. When I looked back I saw that Ted had followed me in, and he came up carrying a big fish. He got it on his first cast with the Giant pike and it turned out to be 34 ½ pounds.

There was a young guy fishing to the side of us that night, we invited him over. He had waded out as far as he could and cast with a needlefish for half an hour without a hit. He was in waders and I said "Too bad you don't have a wetsuit." He said he did have one up in his car so I suggested he get it, so he did. We were lying in the rocks resting and we watched him swim out to one of the rocks right in front of us. We jokingly claimed that he kept us awake with his light going on and off constantly, a sign that he was catching fish, and then his camera started flashing, a sign of big fish! So it turned out this kid, Eric caught five fish over 30 pounds while we rested.

We went back out for the last two hours before light and we took a few more fish up to 30 pounds. The tide dropped out, it got light and the fish finally moved off. Between the four of us we had 11 fish over 30 pounds and numerous fish in the high 20’s. We packed up and left, back in our regular clothes, with the exception of our long surf rods, we looked like regular tourist. We were soon on the 8:15 a.m. ferry back to Point Judith, smiling all the way home. It truly was a night to remember.

Gary.. every time I read that I remember it like yesterday,,, I am still amazed you were able to put it on paper and keep all my swearing out of it... I know there was lots of choice words when I broke that plug off and when I got my plug back with 2 straightened trebles.... Never the less something special....

I can only hope I could provide that type of night to the winner.... Never the less This will be an AWESOME trip,,,,,,

Just recieved a donation from George at Left Hook lures for the winner. A pilgrim and a eely. Very nice plugs, that will catch out there. Thanks George!

Squidly
 

And if the winner isn't tired enough we can always have Gary give his famous Squid lessons....

Picture edited to protect the innocent....

Block!
 

That's funny, I wonder who else is in that pic. I use to use the squid for bait now that I make plugs I eat them. Guys are always stealing my stash for fluke bait now. :uhuh:

Block!
 

Back in "85" I had read so much about Block that I decided to spend 4 days on the Island unseen, sleeping in my truck. I stopped in at Cove Edge Tackle on the way to the ferry. I told the shop owner Henry Hetu where I was headed and he asked me to give him a ride to the ferry. When we got off the boat Henry took me for a tour of the Island, all the top spots. He then took me back to the cottage he and a bunch of guys from Rhody were renting. Capt. Don, Tom Behan, Frank, Bill, they were all there. I will never forget Capt. Don (who I later found out was a chef) was cooking fresh tuna steaks. They invited me in and I ate and fished with them for the 4 days I was there. The first night we fished Ballards Beach. Tom had taken a 58 1/2 and 56 1/2 years prior so it was a special place for him. I was fishing next to Tom and Capt. Don. We were all throwing black needlefish. All of a sudden Tom gets a hit in close and breaks off immediately. It sounded like a gun going off. He yells "Dam, Big fish!" Next thing I know Capt. Don's drag is screaming. It seems like this fish would run forever. I am next in line and up on my toes waiting for my turn. It never came, Dons fish was an even 40 pounds. The next night they all wanted to go to Black Rock. After the night before I wanted to go back to Ballards. Henry said he would go with me. The other guys said they would try Black Rock for a while and then if there was nothing they would come back to Ballards. They never came back!
They said when they got down the bluffs it was still light and they could see all these big bass tails sticking out of the water. They were grubbing for sand eels.They threw everything at them, but it didn't turn on until it got dark, then all hell broke loose. There was one big rock out in front of them and the bigger fish kept taking them around it and breaking them off. Frank landed the biggest fish at 38 pounds. A storm blew in the next couple of days and I only ended up catching one small schoolie that trip, but I was hooked. I took their offer to come back, and I fished with those guys at Block for the next ten year until we all took a break from the Island and fished the mainland. Most of those guys are gone now, and I feel very fortunate to have fished with them! Gary