Big Bad Wolf Wins Little River Make-up Event of the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour in Biloxi!

By Jack Holmes

Biloxi, Mississippi—After getting blown out by bad weather in Little River, I made the decision to move the event to Biloxi, the site of the 2011 Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour Championship. We would fish on Tuesday as the make-up day for Little River and all teams would weigh two fish. Then on Wednesday we would hold the Championship and again weigh two fish per team. As fate would have it, we got blown out again on Tuesday so plan B would be instituted. Wednesday was good enough to fish and we would fish Friday and Saturday with the SKA National Championship with one fish being weighed each day. Then Friday went un-fishable so it became a one-day shootout for both the Pro and National Championship. If you think this was confusing, it was but all worked out well.

Going into Wednesday many teams had the opportunity to make up ground and set themselves up for the weekend final day. Some moved up, some down, but it wasn't because they couldn't find fish to bite. An area about eighty miles south to southeast of Biloxi called the Horseshoe Rig, Salt Dome, was holding big kings waiting for the big mullet to move out of the bays to spawn. It's a yearly occurrence and surely one you don't want to miss, especially if you're a king mackerel fisherperson. This year was no exception!

Ron Mitchell's Bandit team was the point leader and, as you listened to dock and bar talk, his team was the odds on favorite. Ron is a two-time Angler of the Year and has good experience in Upper Gulf fishing. But Stacy and the Big Bad Wolf team weren't convinced.

"We knew we had to find some good fish and finish ahead of Bandit if we were to come out on top," explained Stacy. "We also knew most of the competition would be fishing the same waters as we were so the pressure was really on."

When the Big Bad Wolf team arrived at the Horseshoe, a lot of teams were already there and all were already hooked up. Wester, L.B. Goldman, Austin Eubank, and Jeremy Goldman immediately went to work. "We had a well full of red belly mullet and some nice hard tails," Stacy went on to tell me. "At ten o'clock we had our biggest fish of the day hit the smallest runner we had in the well. Jeremy did a great job of getting her to my waiting gaff. We would later find out this would top 47 pounds."

Shortly after, the team hooked up to a nice 45 which was also handled by Jeremy and Stacy. "That really wasn't the end for us as we continued to find identical kings to our 45," Stacy went on to explain. "We didn't have a scale so we played the guessing game hoping we'd weigh the right fish to go along with our 47. We probably caught fifty fish this day."

While all this was going on, Mitchell and the Bandit team weren't just sleeping. They had a 46.59 as their big fish and a 42.45 in their bag and were looking for bigger fish.

With Jeff Silverthorne, Mike Penny, Ryan Polen, and Spencer Ross fishing the team, the day would not end till it was time to race to the scale. Too much was on the line. "I wouldn't say it was intense, but we knew what we needed to do and the team never quit," said Mitchell who always gives a lot of credit to his team. He's had a lot of experience in doing so, winning the Angler of the Year title in '06 and '09. He wanted another title as did the whole team.

There was another spoiler team on this day, Michael Jacquin's Lil Devil.com. "We all decided that it wasn't over yet; we still had a shot so we fished hard," said Michael who fishes with Chris Carter, and Christian Springsteen. Together they bagged a 49.74 and a 42.00, the 49.74 being the biggest fish of the day among all boats.

"We fished the outside edge of the Horseshoe and slow trolled just to keep our lines straight," Michael told me. "We got a 42 fairly early, went through many smaller fish, then at 11:30 our 49.74 hit a small blue runner and Chris, knowing this was a good fish, did a great job getting her to the gaff. After that it started to slow down and by two o'clock we were on the way back to the scales."

When Chris Rose, the official weighmaster hung their fish, I proclaimed 91.74 total weight for their catch. They earned second place somewhat hurting the Bandit team by keeping them from earning a few more points. 

The way the Pros earned points for this year's tour was based on their daily catch. For the one day event we weighed each team's fish with their biggest king going to day one for Little River and their smaller one for day two. Each was based on a point system. 1,500 points went for each day's win with a percentage to those with smaller fish. Big Bad Wolf gained on the front-runner, Bandit.

Pride also has a way of flexing its muscle. John Parks had no chance of capturing the title but you wouldn't have known it. Parks, Matt Henderson, and Charlie Neal are Carolina fishermen and they never give up. The Yamaha powered Wellcraft team had a super day on the water also with a 46.54 and a 42.20 in their bag. They earned fourth with an 88.74 aggregate.

Rounding out the top five for the event was Bad Company with Lewis Rogers at the helm.  He and B.J. Pearson, Kristin Summers, Carolyn Williams, and Grant Denny fishing a Yamaha powered Contender, caught the second biggest king of the day, a 49.14, but could only back it up with a 36.47.

Now the Pros would have to sit on the dock till Saturday, their last chance to move up the ladder. One can only imagine what was going through Wester's and Mitchell's minds.

Wester won $15,000 for the Little River make-up event, Jacquin picked up $9,000 and Mitchell won $5,000 for third.

Gary Wammock won the Top Senior Angler honors fishing the Briar Creek Fishing Team/Miss Kimberly while Top Lady honors went to Kristin Summers and Carolyn Williams on the Bad Company. Junior Angler honors went to Crockett Henderson from the Liquid Fire.

Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour Final Leg - Little River Standings

Open Class 40.66 ... 19.12 ... 59.781. THAT'S MY DOG Yellowfin / Mercury Forrest Taylor David Hooks 34.03 ... 21.86 ... 55.892. TIM SIMRAD Yellowfin / Mercury Mark Maus Dowling Granberry 27.33 ... 26.93 ... 54.263. EAST COAST SPORTS Onslow Bay / Yamaha Randall Edens George Edens Chris Gaddy Scott Wasilewski 21.42 ... 31.51 ... 52.934. KILL-N-ME / TEAM INVINCIBLE Invincible / Mercury Howard Poe Jessica Poe Donna Gowen Poe Chris Cathey Alex Todd 28.37 ... 23.24 ... 51.615. MINING MY BIDNESS Donzi / Mercury Chuck Permenter Patrick Bellamy Kent Taylor Todd Sanders 19.79 ... 25.98 ... 45.776. KWAZAR Yellowfin / Yamaha Marcus Kennedy Brian Bailey David Van Lent 18.77 ... 26.51 ... 45.287. FISH FEVER / STRIKE ZONE MELBOURNE Yellowfin / Yamaha Ed Mecchella Shawn Mecchella 23.10 ... 21.66 ... 44.768. STEEL FISHING Wellcraft / Yamaha Randy Spainhour Joe Buie Ethan Hedrick James Gunter 24.75 ... 17.15 ... 41.909. OBX GIRL / TEAM CALCUTTA Yellowfin / Yamaha Jim Dupree Jim Dupree III Dan Dupree 20.49 ... 21.39 ... 41.8810. FISH DANCER Contender / Mercury Jeffery Dunbar Nancy Dunbar Bob Woithe Susan Woithe

Top Lady Angler 52.93Donna Gowen Poe & Jessica Poe KILL-N-ME / TEAM INVINCIBLE Top Senior Angler 54.26George Edens EAST COAST SPORTS Top Junior Angler 52.93Alex Todd KILL-N-ME / TEAM INVINCIBLE