Crawford’s AT&T Real Yellow Pages Team Scales a 47.15 ... Wins Kingbuster!

By Jack Holmes

St. Augustine, Florida -  At twelve fifteen on the first day of the two- day Kingbuster Tournament, Kenny Crawford and his AT&T Real Yellow Pages team slid a 47.15 over the gunwale. For everyone else they were now fishing for second place.

All that was left for Kenny, Cindy, and Robbie Farlow, plus Al Morris was the wait to collect their prize, a 31-foot Fountain with twin Mercury outboards and a Loadmaster triple axel, custom aluminum trailer.

The team fished the Elton Bottom, “About 110 feet,” Kenny recalled. “We were fighting a barracuda so I went to clip the line with a Blue Runner back on the downrigger clip when I felt a fish on the other end of the line. I picked up the rod and the rest is history.”

I asked Kenny what the water looked like and he responded with “Real nice blue water.”

This was a great win for the AT&T team and confidence builder. Kenny still has two more Pro Tour events to fish, St. Simons and Little River. I’m sure he will be on his game!

Second and third place both went to teams who caught their fish on day two. It wasn’t catching the fish, it was getting back to the weigh-in dock. About three fifteen a storm hit the St. Augustine area, which threatened to tear down the weigh in tent. Winds were clocked to sixty miles per hour and sheets of rain you couldn’t see thru pounded the area. Some boats chose to beach their boats on the sandbars at the inlet but when all was over here come the fleet.

The storm was a real bugger!

A.J. Pausche, Darren Hollifield, and Bill Jones on A. J’s twenty two foot Yamaha powered Pro Sport were literally soaked but excited as they presented weigh master, Jim Blaylock, with a 40.45.

“We went south to Matanzas, then went out,” A.J. explained. “It was three o’clock and we could see the storm coming from the north.” They were in forty-three feet of water. “That’s when they, meaning two, hit a ribbon and ballyhoo on the surface,” he continued. “We knew which one was the big one as she nearly dumped the reel. As fast as we got her in we put our life jackets on and headed north.” It was real scary but they had second place nailed.

Third place went to Scott Frye’s Fore Play, a Yamaha powered Sea Pro.

“We were fishing some numbers a friend gave me east of St. Augustine in one hundred feet of water,” said Frye. “About eleven-thirty she hit the shotgun line and Dan Kehrt picked up the rod. She made one good run and two short ones, pretty routine.”

Well there’s nothing routine about scaling a 39.40 or earning third in a field of two hundred fifteen boats. That’s pretty dramatic!

On board and accepting the accolades were Frye, Lou Smith, Cameron Frye, Ed Oldham, and Kehrt.

Fourth place fell to Mike Dousman and Mark Gore fishing Survivor. Yes, Mike is back in St. Augustine and with a new twenty- five foot Contender.

“We were forty miles from the City Marina fishing in one-hundred feet of water,” Mike informed me while sitting at the weigh-in dock waiting for the scales to open. “She hit at nine-forty succumbing to a ribbonfish dropped way back. We were in an area we fished two weeks ago and found dolphin and lots of bait so we thought why not.”

When Dousman and Gore got back from weighing their king they were all smiles. “This is the biggest king we’ve ever weighed in this tournament,” Gore added. It weighed 39.25

Mike and Melissa Senior, Clayton Fridell, and John Garnto told everyone that they had won Captain Kevin Faver’s giveaway entry into the Kingbuster. They also won fifth place with a Yamaha powered Sea Hunt named Reel Addiction.

“We fished south of the Elton Bottom,” said Melissa who came away with the top lady angler honors.  The team hooked up at nine o’clock, and took thirty minutes to land the fish.

“We caught lots of small fish but our 38.50 ate a blue runner seventy feet down,” explained Mike. “After only weighing a twenty pound king on day one we were really excited. This is our best finish to date.”

John and Lori Clements won the top slot in the Class of 23. Fishing an Evinrude powered ProKat, the team scaled a 37.90. It was the weekend for the Class boats to shine.

Aqua Toy, Fore Play,  Reel Addiction, and Lost Wages are all Class boats. Read it and weep all you big boat throttle jockeys. The Class boats kicked butt this weekend and deserve the accolades!

Bite Me was the first boat to come to scale on day one. “We had our 35.95 in the box by eight o’clock", said team Captain Rodney Rogers. “We went where everyone else told us not to go.”

They caught their king on a ribbonfish down twenty feet. Rogers, Tim Buice, and Hannah Garrard fish an Evinrude powered Hydra Sports. This was their best finish in a tournament.

Third place Class of 23 went to Fishocity, a Yamaha powered Sailfish. They fished the Elton Bottom. “We found a school of runners so we stayed in the area,” said Captain Joshua Generazio who scaled a 30.60.

James Bryant,  John Wilson, and Shane Hood picked up sixth overall with a 38.50.  Fishing a Mercury powered Fountain named Reel Shady, the team fished south of the Elton Bottom in one hundred twenty feet of water. “We caught her on a ribbonfish down fifty feet at eleven-thirty,” said Bryant. “We knew she was a decent fish when she hit.”

Ben and Nick Hinson fish a Class of 23 Mercury powered Contender named Bad Sport. They were bad this weekend spanking a lot of other competitors after earning seventh with a nice 37.45.

Finishing in eighth place were the Gallup’s, Paul and Paul Jr.

Salt Therapy caught two nice kings and had to borrow a scale to figure which one to weigh. They got it right with a 36.90. They fish a Yamaha powered Cape Horn.

A non-member got into ninth.

Scott and Wes Pope along with Jason Franklin rounded out the top ten with a 35.40. They fish the Tall Tail, a Yamaha powered Contender.

Despite the horrendous storm on Saturday during the weigh-in, the event was up to the expected Kingbuster standards.  Kudos to Don and Roger Combs and their staff. Don Dingman needs our accolades also because of the great job he did on Thursday with the kid’s event. He presented Kati Waldron with a boat-motor-trailer package for winning the event.  She is an SKA member and finished 24th in the Kingbuster with her father Paul. They fish She Said No.

Division 5 is the biggest division in SKA. 

Kingbuster 400 Final Standings

Open Class 47.151. AT&T REAL YELLOW PAGES Contender / Yamaha Kenny Crawford Cindy Farlow Robbie Farlow Al Morris 40.452. AQUA TOY ProSport / Yamaha A.J. Pausche Darren Hollifield Bill Jones 39.403. FORE PLAY Sea Pro / Yamaha Scott Frye Lou Smith Cameron Frye Ed Oldham Dan Kehrt 39.254. SURVIVOR Contender / Yamaha Mike Dousman Mark Gore 38.505. REEL ADDICTION Sea Hunt / Yamaha Mike Senior Melissa Senior Clayton Fridell John Garnto 38.506. REEL SHADY Fountain / Mercury James Bryant John Wilson Shane Hood 37.457. BADSPORT Contender / Mercury Ben Hinson Nick Hinson 36.908. SALT THERAPY Cape Horn / Yamaha Paul Gallup Paul Gallup Jr. 36.409. Plumb Crazy 35.4010. TALL TAIL Contender / Yamaha Scott Pope Wes Pope Jason Franklin 35.3011. CRIKEY Invincible / Evinrude Andre Moore Kim Bain-Moore John Strudel Conrad Lau 35.2512. Knot Bad 34.1513. RIDIN-HIGH Hydra Sports / Evinrude David Filsinger Andrew Albritton John Warren 33.4514. MELLOW YELLOW Yellowfin / Yamaha Steve Lucie Ryland Lucie 33.4015. ACE HOLE Polar / Yamaha William Santacrose Mark May 33.3016. R-RATED Spectre / Yamaha Rembrandt Gray Jim Jacunski Cathy Gray Dean Whitten Hannah Damon Chris Whitten 33.2517. HOO NEU Fountain / Mercury Marc Neu Missy Neu Tony Karwacki Bo Audesey Sherri Audesey 33.2018. BEER MONEY Fountain / Mercury Chris Stephens Larry Bohannon Chris Smolder Rusty Russell 32.2519. Taz R Boat 31.8520. FISHTASTIC Whitewater / Yamaha Craig Sutton Gary Schmidt 31.5021. Undecided 31.1022. TRIVIAL PURSUIT Fountain / Mercury Ronnie Worsham Matt Worsham Mark Worsham 31.1023. Bag Limit 30.9024. SHE SAID NO McKee Craft / Evinrude Paul Waldron Kati Waldron 30.7525. BAD COMPANY Contender / Yamaha Lewis Rogers Dan Crowley B.J. Pearson John Rogers Lucas Crowley 30.7026. Hammer Time 29.4027. FISHBUSTER Bluewater / Mercury Robert Bishop Brian Ferrell Kristen Bishop John Peiffer 29.2528. SEA BONES Marlago / Yamaha William Pujadas Korrie Pujadas 29.2529. STRAIT SHOT / CLEAN LIVIN Contender / Yamaha Trace Barrow Billy Crabtree Marc Hardesty 28.8030. Cookes Marine

Class of 23 37.901. LOST WAGES Pro Kat / Evinrude John Clements Lori Clements 35.952. BITE ME Hydra Sports / Evinrude Rodney Rogers Hannah Garrard Tim Buice 30.603. FISHOCITY Sailfish / Yamaha Joshua Generazio Tom Hawarah Paul Griffis Shelby Griffis Top Lady Angler 38.50Melissa Senior REEL ADDICTION SKA Top Junior Anglers sponsored by Subway 36.901. Paul Gallup Jr. SALT THERAPY 33.302. Hannah Damon & Chris Whitten R-RATED 30.903. Kati Waldron SHE SAID NO Mercury Marine Junior Angler Scholarship Winner Jordan Gear FLYING BUTTON / PROSTAR