Benwell, Black win fishing trip

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A year ago, as part of our seemingly continuous quest to separate readers from their hard-earned 37-cent stamps, we conducted a little contest we thought would be a huge hit.

We gave away a deep-sea fishing trip.

A few hundred readers (and a couple hundred folks who happened across our booth at the Maine Lobster Festival) entered. Two lucky winners, along with their guests, met me in Southwest Harbor on the appointed day. We ambled aboard, full of optimism … and in about an hour or two, most of the people on board were too busy “chumming” (if you get my drift) to worry much about fishing.

Let’s just say that before we headed back to shore, most of the previously avid anglers were about the same color as the little plastic tube your carrier leaves your daily paper.

And if you buy your paper at the supermarket … just think green.

In the wake of that excursion, you might think that we’d have thought twice about giving away a similar trip.

We did.

And eventually, we decided that a similar trip just wouldn’t do. No way. Not for our loyal readers.

Instead, we decided to give away two identical trips aboard Capt. John Dittmar’s Vagabond. We’ll head to Southwest Harbor early Saturday. We’ll fish, alongside Dittmar’s paying clients. At the end of the seven-hour trip, Dittmar will assign us all lobster traps, and we’ll get to keep any legal lobsters ours contains.

Just like last year.

Why? Well, Mainers are tough. And as several thousand lead-bellied folks proved at last week’s Bangor State Fair, there are many people out there who will gladly pay good money to become nauseous.

And if you give them the opportunity to do so for free … and tell them they may even be able to take home some fish or lobster?

They’d go nuts!

And how about the X-Games that have been on ESPN all weekend? Americans are natural thrill-seekers! They’ll love this trip!

OK. Maybe that’s not exactly our thought process. But here’s the fact: Last year, we were unlucky. The weather didn’t cooperate. And we still had a great time.

This year’s winners, I’m happy to announce, are David Black of Belfast and Bobbie Jo Benwell of Portland.

Even though we’ve made no secret that last year’s weather was a bit choppy, this year’s contest proved even more popular.

This time around, more than 1,000 people entered for the chance to spend a day on the water … rough seas or not.

After drawing the names, I spent the better part of Monday pawing through the box of entries, checking for familiar names, familiar towns, and odd trends.

Among the oddest: Thanks to the fact that we staffed a booth at the Maine Lobster Festival, Mainers weren’t the only ones who expressed an interest in a deep-sea fishing trip.

We received entries from 12 states, and all of New England was represented. The long-distance award goes to Steve Montgomery of Oklahoma. Honorable mention goes to an entrant from Alabama.

We also received entries from New York, Maryland, Illinois, and New Jersey.

When it came to in-state entries, the contest covered the map. We received entry coupons from York in the south and Van Buren and Madawaska in the north. From Wallagrass to Brownville Junction to Bar Harbor to Fort Fairfield, readers responded.

The record for most smiley-face, rainbow and heart stickers on one entry envelope: Seven. Unfortunately, the entrant didn’t win; I’m sure she possessed the proper positive fishing disposition.

Many of our entrants were from coastal towns, and we even received an entry from an Alley in Jonesport.

There are many Alleys in Jonesport, as even casual sports fans learn every time Jonesport-Beals High School rolls into Bangor with another tourney-bound basketball team. Many of those Alleys make their living off the sea.

The fact that an Alley would want to spend a day off on the sea with us? Well, maybe I’m too much of a hoop nut to be totally objective, but I thought it was pretty interesting.

Also interesting: Our winners. Benwell admitted that she really didn’t have much interest in going deep-sea fishing – “I don’t really care for the water too much” was her actual quote – but said she entered so she could take her husband.

And Black?

As it turns out, he may be our ace in the hole this time around.

When he isn’t busy winning deep-sea fishing trips, Black is … you guessed it … a lobsterman.

Now that sounds like a guy you want to be standing next to when the weather gets rough and the sea isn’t the only thing heaving.

I’ll let you know how our trip turns out. And thanks to everyone for taking the time to enter.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.