Inside A Big Charity Fishing Tournament That's Quietly Stacked With Wall Streeters

On Friday, we went to the Fishermen's Conservation Association's 15th annual Manhattan Cup — a "catch and release" charity tournament.

The event raised funds and awareness for the Wounded Warriors Project, superstorm Sandy relief, Hooked-for-a-lifetime (taking inner city kids fishing), Catch A Cure (cystic fibrosis research), Grace Foundation (helping families with autistic children), Jacob' s Team (autism awareness and support) and many beach clean up efforts.  

The FCA bills it as a fishing tournament where participants "represent a veritable who’s who of Wall Street and the 'pro fishing' circuit."

We met a bunch of professional fishermen and a handful of Wall Streeters.

We're told by a well-connected Wall Street source that it's an event big names on the Street "quietly support." For example, the source told us that a well-known money manager lent his boat for a team to use for the day and he's been supporting the event for years.  

"It's very informal, not like Robin Hood," our source explained referring to the philanthropic organization backed by Paul Tudor Jones and other top hedge fund managers. 

Per our source, Wall Street's involvement with the Manhattan Cup goes back to when a bunch of the traders and hedge funders used to go fishing with Capt. Frank Crescitelli, who is the chairman of the FCA's board. 

These Wall Streeters would go with Crescitelli early in the morning before going to the office.  Our source said he used to go fishing with him at 4:15 p.m. right after the closing bell.  

There were apparently some tough years right after September 11th when the Hudson River was off limits and people moved out of downtown and then when the financial crisis hit and a lot of folks lost their jobs.  

He noted that this year was challenging because superstorm Sandy wrecked the marinas in Staten Island, but it was still a "tremendous accomplishment" to have so many boats and people turn out this year.  

There were about 50 boats and around 200 anglers fishing in the Manhattan Cup.  

We checked out the event at Chelsea Piers and if you missed it, we've included highlights in the slides that follow.  

We arrived on the docks outside the Chelsea Brewing Company at Chelsea Piers around 7:30 a.m.

There were probably around 250 people participating in the tournament.

Inside the brewery there was a feast for breakfast — eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, bagels, etc.

Please follow Clusterstock on Twitter and Facebook.