Welcome to the “World’s Greatest Kids Fishing Tournament,” the Gasparilla Island Kids Classic Tarpon Tournament! In the 8 short years of this event our young anglers, averaging 10-years-old, have now caught and released 283 tarpon in the 80-pound to 130-pound range with an average release time of 10 minutes! That’s outstanding work by captains and anglers to insure that the tarpon are released as healthy as possible to come back for battle and fight another day.
These kids, captains, observers and the many volunteers it takes to put on an event like this have now raised more than $264,000 for local charities and the education initiatives we support.
The 2020 tournament will support Easter Seals Project Rainbow of Southwest Florida, The Island School, the Charlotte County School System’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (S.T.E.M.) summer camp, EasterSeals of SW FL, the Boca Grande Historic Society, The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, and the Friends of Boca Grande Community Center, Dee Wheeler Scholarship Fund, The Island School, Gasparilla Island Maritime Museum, Boca Grande Fishing Guide Association.
In addition to donating 100 percent of the tournament entry fees to our charities, we will also award more than $15,000 in prizes to captains and anglers!