(* Denotes a Class of 23 Team)

"CRAWFORD'S CRAWFISH WINS THE '03 KINGMASTER 100"
BILOXI, MS
MAY 15-17, 2003
By: Jack Holmes

Biloxi, Mississippi. Amidst the lush tropical setting of the Palace Casino Resort, Kenny Crawford's Yamaha powered Contender, Crawfish, slid up to the marina's dock shortly after the scales opened on day one and presented weigh master Bob Flocken with a 54.62-pound king. It took over the lead in the prestigious Kingmaster 100, an invitational event held once a year in Biloxi, Mississippi, and was never challenged.

"I've been over here four times and always fish in about the same area, 60 miles to the south," said a very excited Kenny Crawford, sitting in the spectator bleachers waiting for the day two boats to weigh in. "It hit a blue runner on the surface and Brian Fletcher had her in by 9:45. It's definitely the biggest king ever caught on my boat." On the boat was Doreen Lands and John Giese. The area they fished was where most of the tournaments good fish came from.

"We had all the intentions of fishing the second day," Crawford told me. "When we saw what had happened to the seas we decided to come in." Friday's weather was very nice, seas two to three feet, and Saturday was to be more of the same. Unfortunately a front came thru early and kicked the seas to eight foot or better. By early afternoon it was blowing eighteen with gusts to twenty-six. With $50,000 on the line and most still on the water in big boats Crawford had to play the waiting game however as the afternoon progressed the pendulum moved more and more to Crawford's favor.

Chad Morris's Sea Horse, a 35' Wellcraft, came from North Carolina with James Gunther and Randy Spainhour as team members and scaled the largest fish of day two, a 49.14 which would earn the team $18,000. It also moved them to third place overall. "We really couldn't have made it if Rick Smith aboard the Wild Turkey hadn't given us a prop at 9:30 Friday night," explained Morris. "It's friends like him that make the SKA so enjoyable." The Sea Horse was fishing forty miles south in 110 feet of water, a spot given to them by the Wellcraft team members. "We had her on at 10:15. We were trying to dodge the Fish Fever but this fish had a mind of it's own. It cut both of Fish Fever's downrigger lines and we had to cut two of their trolling lines. But we got her in," said Morris.

Mike Allen's Final Addiction team also put forth a stellar performance scaling the second biggest fish in the invitational, a 51.58 caught on day one. According to Allen, "We were in the same area 60 miles south that the bite was in. We had gone thru all our baits early thanks to hungry sharks, so we had to re-stock our baitwell. Mike Allen told us to get back to fishing after we caught a dozen blue runners. Our first bait out produced the big king. Had we waited longer to catch more baits we may have missed that fish." On board, too was John Smith and Robert Hayward. Allen asked that we mention that they were using the new Okuma high-speed reels that worked perfectly, Mustad hooks and P-Line. The team left Biloxi with a fat $24,000 check.

Ken Thompson was notified that he would be adding a crew member from Boating Magazine to his team by Donzi boats President, Mike Collins, who would be carrying the Publisher of the magazine. Obviously the pressure was on for him and Rachel Burke to find a good fish and not let his sponsor down. In typical Thompson fashion he came thru, scaling a 48.39, good for fourth place. Later he explained that he was in the same area as the other winners and had no problems all day. "Our Team Freedom Donzi performed well and the Mercury's never missed a beat." Starr Boykin, when she's not turkey hunting or lecturing on the subject, loves to tournament fish. With her all female team, Jan Miller and Dr. Shannon Gilmore, she ran her new Yamaha powered Contender, the Starr B, eighty miles to 200 feet of water. "I was fighting a fish when another reel went off and Shannon grabbed the rod," Starr told me. At 10:30 Miller, who is the pro gaffer of the team, stuck the fish and the team had the biggest money fish of their career in the boat, a 47.51. At the awards ceremony they collected fifth place honors and a check for $11,000.

The Tenacious Toy captained by Greg Slayton from St. Simons Island, Georgia picked up $9,000 for finishing sixth with a 46.31. The Mercury powered Team Donzi boat caught their fish on day one but kept right on fishing. They weighed a nice second day fish, just not big enough to replace the first day king.

The Dee's family from Mobile just may be the best Alabama team fishing today. Mike needed day two to find the king that would put the team on the board. "It was so rough we couldn't get to where we wanted to go," said the Captain. They were only 30 miles from the scale and caught the seventh place 46.31-pound fish. A blue runner did the trick. Tom Rady showed once again that he could fish with the best of them, this time finishing eighth in this prestigious event. His Barely Legal, a Mercury powered Donzi, caught a 46.10 on day one to earn eighth. Bob Woithe and his family came from the west coast of Florida and went home with top ten honors. This time ninth. If the family has not built a trophy room in their house, they should. They have been winners since they started fishing the circuit.

Rounding out the top ten was past Angler of the Year Chris Chase. His team, including Charlie Lyons and Bill Lang, bagged a 45.12 on the second day and got back to the scale in time for Chris to make a plane back to Chicago.

Keith Crosby and his staff at the Palace casino Resort pulled out all the stops to make everyone feel right at home. Comments ranged from " They really make us feel welcome" to "We really feel like they appreciate our business." The food provided at the Captain's party was absolutely superb with many comments like, "I can't believe how much food they've put out for us." They also provided an open bar. Marty Bistrong from Contender boats was so impressed he booked the whole hotel for the Nationals for all the Contender owners expected to qualify for this years event.

We salute the Palace Casino Resort and all that participated in this year's event!