Crawgator Busts Golden Meadow Kingfish Record With A 58.62!

By Jack Holmes

Fourchon, Louisiana -  Michael Butler scaled a 58.62 on Friday, the second day of the 62nd Annual Golden Meadow Tarpon Rodeo and first day of the SKA Kingfish event. He and his brother Bill fishing the Yamaha powered Invincible, Crawgator, won the $5,000 in the SKA kingfish division and captured a rodeo record held by Harry  Smith back in 1970.

“We were fishing one hundred miles south west of Fourchon,” said Bill Butler. “She hit a hard tail on the surface in 145 feet of water at noon. Mike grabbed the rod but had his hands full, she was burning out line.”

The team chased the big king but it wasn’t until Mike got her close to the boat before they knew just how big she was. “When Mike finally saw the fish he let me know just how big and we really went to work,” added Bill who was running the boat.

Venice Marina in Venice, Louisiana sponsors the Crawgator team. Bill and Mike also fish the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour.

The closest anyone came to the Crawgator was the Top Producer team who scaled a 51.96 on day two of the event. Mike, Jeff, and Sheree Dees from Mobile, Alabama, fish a Yamaha powered Contender.

This was one of a handful of teams who stayed out Friday night, which is completely legal under rodeo rules.

Third place fell to the Quietus, a Yellowfin powered by Mercury, from Theodore, Alabama. David Rogers Jr., J.J. Gilmore, Jason Andrews, and Joey Spiers, scaled a 51.31 on day two.

“We were fishing ninety-five miles from the scale on Saturday,” said Gilmore. “It was about eleven o’clock and we were sending a hard tail down on the downrigger when she hit. Then a second rod went off. David was on the downrigger rod, which eventually proved to be the bigger king.  The second king was a high forties.”

X-S Rated was the first to weigh on Friday, and signed their weigh slip certifying the final fifty of the tournament, a 50.99. They earned fourth. Chris Denton, Ray Romero, Matthew Caldwell, and Barry Meadows made up the team.

There were only twenty-three teams fishing the open class and ten in the Class of 23. You wouldn’t have known it by the leader board.

Danny Mathis and his Cat Daddy team scaled a 49.02 while Neil Foster scaled a 48.17. The entire top ten in the Open Class had kings in the forties.

Plus these teams also scaled fish in the Rodeo. Max Williams fishing on Marcus Kennedy’s Kwazar won the Jack Crevalle Division with a 43.10 and Tyler Kennedy was second in Barracuda.

 David Rogers Jr. on Quietus won the Wahoo Division with a 77.6.

Matthew Mathis on Cat Daddy earned second place in Wahoo.

The Naut-A-Byte team earned places in White Trout and Jack Crevalle.

The Get Layed team caught a seventy-pound sailfish, tried to revive it, but it died so they brought it in. It was a spectacular fish.

 Winning the Class of 23 was Joe Shell, Junior and Senior,  Chris Shell, and Darrell Schofield fishing the Backlash, a Yamaha powered Cape Horn. They caught a 44.57 on day two.

“We were in the South Tem’s, forty-five miles south in 150 feet of water,” said Joe. “It was mid-day and we were putting out lines, and she took the hard tail in the prop wash before we could even get it out. Darrell, who signed up at the rodeo and was fishing his first tournament, had the rod and brought her to the boat.”

On day one we could only find sharks,” Joe added.   

Finishing second in Class of 23 was Marty Daniels, Pat Flood, Robbie Moye, Joe Temple, and Ryan Daniels, with a 42.31. They fished a Yamaha powered Contender named Instigator.

“We were sixty miles southwest of Fourchon on Friday,” said Captain Marty Daniels whose son Ryan was the events Top Junior Angler. “She hit a surface trolled hard tail but literally took no line. We were in 120 feet of water. I brought her to the boat with no fanfare.”

Sea Hagg was third with a 37.33.

The second place in the SKA junior angler standings was Tripp Connor on the Crazy D, who caught a twenty-five pound king by himself. Mom and Dad scaled a 33.04.

Kayla Williamson was our third place SKA junior angler. She fished Get Layed.

I love rodeos. There’s so many different species that come to scale but this rodeo had a spear fishing division, which saw some great fish.

Our thanks to the Golden Meadow Rodeo staff for allowing our participation and to Anthony Toups who made it all possible.

Golden Meadow Tarpon Rodeo

Open Class 58.621. CRAWGATOR Invincible / Yamaha Bill Butler Michael Butler 51.962. TOP PRODUCER Contender / Yamaha Mike Dees Jeff Dees Sheree Dees 51.313. QUIETUS Yellowfin / Mercury David Rogers Jr. J.J. Gilmore Jason Andrews Joey Spiers 50.994. X-S RATED Yellowfin / Mercury Chris Denton Ray Romero Matthew Caldwell Barry Meadows 49.025. CAT DADDY Yellowfin / Mercury Danny Mathis Bobby Schoenfeld Matthew Mathis 48.176. INTENSE Contender / Yamaha Neil Foster Mark Collier Josh Collier 45.107. KWAZAR Yellowfin / Yamaha Marcus Kennedy Max Williams Tyler Kennedy Steve Ennis 44.268. TRUCKIN UP Contender / Yamaha David Van Lent Jeff Hall Rose Van Lent Mike Ward Nicholas Janowitz 41.529. KAJUN SPORTSMAN Contender / Yamaha Joey Toups Jon Stevens Larry Gutelius Austin Johnson Dale Gremillion 40.3310. BLUEWATER COWBOY Cape Horn / Yamaha Lee Michael Norris Jody Norris Keith Mercer Robert Morgan K.C. Fitzpatrick

Class of 23 44.571. BACKLASH Cape Horn / Yamaha Joe Shell Jr. Joe Shell Sr. Chris Shell Darrell Schofield 42.312. INSTIGATOR Contender / Yamaha Marty Daniels Pat Flood Robbie Moye Joe Temple Ryan Daniels 37.333. SEA HAGG Contender / Yamaha Cecil Capps Earl Burbridge Wesley Burbridge Brent Carrington SKA Top Junior Anglers sponsored by Kajun Sportsman 42.311. Ryan Daniels INSTIGATOR 33.042. Tripp Connor CRAZY D 25.933. Kayla Williamson GET LAYED