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RUSTY HOOK’S QUEST TO BECOME NATIONAL CHAMPION IS REALIZED IN BILOXI! BILOXI, MS November 29, 2004 By: Jack Holmes

BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI—When Tim Bronson weighed the second day fish caught on the Rusty Hook, he was informed that the team was in the lead in the Southern Kingfish Association’s Mercury Tournament Trail’s National Championship and to get back to the tournament site by six o’clock. Obviously the Rusty Hook’s Captain, Geoff Gibson, disregarded the message and returned well after the crowd had disbursed. He couldn’t believe he, Bronson, Keith Wells,  and Jonathan Tindell had won the biggest event of the year.

On stage Gibson told the sparse crowd that after finishing eighth place last year in the Nationals and watching all the east coast teams dominate the event, he was bound and determined to do his homework and get the job done. He’s a man of his word.

The Rusty Hook team fished off Dauphin Island to the east. Setting up in 90 feet of water, the team patiently waited for the bad boy to strike. At 1:30 she hit a long flat line,enticed by a large blue fish. “The hardest part of this year’s Championship was the bait fishing,” said Gibson. “It just couldn’t be found. We started the second day with just four baits.” Regardless, the team went right back to the same spot and found a 34.72 which gave the team an 84.21 aggregate, two pounds better than John Griffin’s Line One.

This win gave Contender boats and Yamaha Outboards a clean sweep, both National Champion honors, and Angler of the Year. At the awards breakfast at the Palace Casino Resort,  an emotional Gibson praised the product after first thanking his wife for all her support in his quest to win the title. Then he was presented the keys to a 23’ Baja boat with twin Mercury outboards and a Loadmaster Trailer. Gibson and his teammates have conquered sport fishing’s most coveted title and certainly earned the respect of their peers for their accomplishment.

Alden Thornton wanted to fish the Nationals real bad but he didn’t qualify. John Griffin did, in the Pros aboard his Fountain Line One. But Thornton had a brand new 38 footer built especially for him by Reggie Fountain, with four high performance Mercs totaling a thousand horsepower. The two teams merged and the result is a second place finish and a 23’ Mercury powered Fountain for their efforts.

“Yes, we were one of the 250 boats that ran west to the Delta,” said Griffin. On day one they hooked up a 49 pounder thanks to a long lined mullet. “We ran back to the Delta on day two but the bite was gone. We ran back to the east side, CA25, where we were lucky to pick up a 32.86 again using a mullet, but this time down 35 feet.”  The team was the highest finishing North Carolina team at the Nationals.

“Reggie and I had an agreement,” explained Thornton. “If the boat didn’t run 72 miles an hour I didn’t have to pay for it. It runs over 80!” Is this starting a whole new chapter in SKA fishing?

Another Mercury powered Fountain from North Carolina earned third place. William Kenyon’s Water Fountain with Charles Bowden, and James Jones,  won a Sweet 16 Donzi for their efforts. “We stayed out of the Delta and fished CA25 south of Biloxi,” said Kenyon. Their first king came at 3:30pm, a 30.50, when it ate a blue runner trolled just off the bottom. “We didn’t think a 30 pounder would do us much good but when we heard that the bite had turned off in the Delta on day two, and we had an early 50 pounder in the bag, we thought it was going to get interesting,” said Bowden. He was right, an 80.63 aggregate was nothing to sneeze at. “We must have released 20 kings this weekend, all in the 20 to 25 pound range,” Bowden added.

Crawgator’s Bill Butler swears by the Delta. He should, owning the popular Venice Marina, close to the mouth of the Mississippi River. On day one, the team of Mike Butler, Rick Ryan,and Steve Jenkins bagged a 39.81 using a hard tail on the surface 137 miles from from the scale. On day two the Yamaha powered Contender team did like the Water Fountain and ended up at CA25 where they found a 40.33. They ended with a 80.14 aggregate and won a Mercury powered McKee Craft with a Loadmaster Trailer.

Georgia’s Ken Murray rounded out the top five with a 78.07 aggregate. They lived with the Delta both days. On day one they scaled a 38 pounder then backed it up with a 40 pounder. “We had good luck last year in this area so without being able to pre-fish we used the same game plan,” said Murray who won a 200 hp Mercury outboard and $1,000 cash. With Murray on his 26’ Mako was Mike Blackerby, Henry Wheeler, and Scott Donovan.

The weather situation in Biloxi was certainly less than perfect. Winds howled for the first four days of the week but broke just in time for first day’s check out. Bait was near impossible to find adding to the dilemma. Last year we weighed 56 kings in the 50 pound range but this year only six were captured in the open class. Tony Davenport’s Relentless II, Alan Richey’s Knot Guilty, Scott Elliott’s Use of Proceeds, Jose Reyes’ Papotanic, and Benson Ybanez’s Open Wide all had 50’s on day one but couldn’t find kings to pair them up with. Fifty-four teams caught kings in the 40s in the Open Division.

Randell Edens’ Reel Greedy picked up sixth place by scaling a 32.46 and a 43.82 for a 76.28 aggregate. The North Carolina Contender owner scored 79.65 last year but was way off the pace. This year a slightly smaller aggregate earned him sixth.  He’s learning the upper Gulf waterswell and his team is very accomplished.

Barrett and Rube McMullanbrought the Carolina Contender to town and picked up seventh with 75.65 points.The Captain, Brant McMullan, stayed home and became a daddy over the weekend. Congratulations!

In The Rough with David VanLent at the helm earned the eighth spot. The 2000 Angler of the Year caughta 46.20 on day one but could only find a 28.34 to go with it. They had a 74.54two fish aggregate.

North Carolina’s Al Morris Jr., punched his Sea Drag’n into ninth with 73.88 points while Mississippi’s Reel Addiction took the tenth spot with 73.24 points. Gary Smith was the Captain.

Despite the weather,everything turned out well and our new National Champion, Geoffrey Gibson will serve the SKA organization well. Congratulations to all the top 40 finishers.

 FINAL STANDINGS:

SNAFU SETS CLASS OF 23 RECORD IN WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! BILOXI, MS November 29, 2004 By: Jack Holmes

While other teams went west or south, Stephen Barfoot, Kevin Butler, and Spencer Johnson, piloted the 23’ Contender, Snafu, east to a spot off Alabama’s Dauphin Island he thought would be holding a big king. The run, 65 miles from the Isle of Capri Casino check out point,  put them a few miles off  Horn Island and on the rigs that have worked for them in the past. “There were good kings caught off  Dauphin Island the week before the Championship,” said Barfoot, hoping that the fish would not leave the area. The Alabama team leader was right. “Everyone we talked to said they found very little bait, same as us.” Their long line which contained a hard tail got eaten by the first king they scaled at 9:30 am. It weighed 49.32. “We really thought that there was another good fish there so we went right back on day two,”Barfoot explained. “This one ate a mullet on the surface and we had her in the box early. We decided that the best thing to do was come right back to the scales and wait it out.”  They were the first boat to weigh in on Saturday and presented Bobby Flocken, the official SKA weigh master, with a 58.76, the biggest king of the entire tournament. It gave them a 108.08 aggregate, nearly 18 pounds ahead of the Lined Out who finished second and nearly 24 pounds better than the top Open Class team.

Snafu finished tenth in Division 7 to qualify for the Championship, but while everyone would like there cognition associated with a Divisional title, the bottom line is really just making it to the big show in November. This is really where it all matters. Barfoot and his team was presented with a 23’ Palmetto, twin 150 hp Mercurys for power and a Loadmaster Trailer for their win. Barfoot will make a very special National Champion!

In the Divisional tournaments, the teams fish to earn the right to fish the Nationals by weighing just one fish per event. Luck plays an important factor. In the Championship, teams must scale two fish, one per day, to win the event. A very tough test of skill.

Lined Out, another 23’Contender, earned second place with a 90.8 two fish aggregate. The Division 7winners, Mitch Mosley, Ken Smith, and Bubba Carter fished not far from theSnafu and scaled a 41.28 on day one, then weighed a 49.52 on day two. “We werein 80 feet of water when the first day king hit a long lined hard tail,” saidan exuberant Mosley. We caught six other smaller kings. On day two we wentright back to the same spot and caught our bigger king. It was the only king wesaw.” The team had pre-fished the area and said they were in “good cleanwater.” They were presented the keys to a new Mercury powered Sea Pro boatcomplete with a Loadmaster Trailer.

Team Millennium Marinewas our top Texas team for the event. The Jason Wagen family, Jason, Jody, andJeff, fished their Yamaha powered Pro Sport at CA 25, a spot they learned aboutfishing  at last year’s Nationals.Sitting in 55 feet of water they used a ribbonfish trolled deep and were rewardedat 3:30pm with a 43 pounder. Day two, unable to find live bait, they caught a39.63 on a ribbon which gave them a third place 86.11 agg. The team finishedtenth in Division 8 this year and only found 64 pounds of fish in the Nationalslast year. This great family team is obviously doing their homework. I don’tthink we’ve seen their full potential yet.

Burt and MargaretFerebee, Division 1 qualifiers (North Carolina), earned 24th place last year inBiloxi. This year they were the top east coast boat in the Class. They toofished CA 25 and used ribbonfish to lure a 43.31 on day one and a 40.28 on daytwo to their lines. Their 83.59 aggregate was good for 4th place. The Contenderteam, the Ferebees and Brad Buck, is another of those husband and wife teamswho do very well all year long. Bert certainly has a long list of fishingsuccesses and has more than proved that to win you must first get around himand the Second Catch team!

Fifth place fell to theWet Dream 2 team with 81.73 points. Joe Lewis’ team qualified tenth out otDivision 5 (Jacksonville, Fla.), and proved that if you apply yourself, you cansucceed, especially since this was their first National participation. TheBluewater boats team of Joe, and Brandon and Ben Lewis, weighed a 29.96 and a51.77. Surely that second day fish must have been the biggest king the team hasever caught but we suspect it won’t be their last. They were one of the boatsat CA 25 and were forced to use ribbonfish for bait as live bait was very hardto come by.

One fish to note wasDavid Rogers Jr’s 52.12 leading first day king. His Quietus team fished thewest Delta on day one, got into the class lead, then ran back to the Delta onday two, only to find the bite nonexistent. A bitter disappointment for thisgreat team but isn’t that what fishing is all about? It wasn’t the first timethis has happened in the Nationals and it won’t be the last.

Sixth place honors fellto the Miss Behavin team.  This isthe only team to fish the Pros this year in a 23’ boat, and their showing wasvery respectable. The Palmetto Boats / Boater’s World Marnie Centers team ofDanny Duncan, Terri Duncan, Bill McNeely, Bruce Schmitt, and Bill Higgins,scaled a 41.91 on day one, then backed it up on day two with a 37.41 for a79.32 aggregate. They certainly made their sponsors very happy.

Steve Miller’s MillerTime qualified eighth out of the South Carolina Division 3, came to Biloxi forthe Big Show and nailed down 7th. A great showing. The Contender team scaled a38.40 and a 40.47 for 78.87 points. Miller fishes with Jeff Morris, SteveMiller, Jason Singleton, and Rodney Rogers. 

Eighth place fell to theTyphoon, Ty Ellis’ boat. His Regulator team of Boyce Davis, Kevin Bowles, andPhillip Bowdle,  scored 48.70points on day one and backed it up with a 30 pounder on day two.  They earned the right to come herebased on their third place Division 4 finish (Georgia).

Ninth place fell toVernon Rice’s Attitude with 74.63 points while Richard Hewett’s King’s Ransomrounded out he top ten with 73.85 points.

This event was certainlynothing like last year’s Championship. Fishing was tough, seas all week leadingup to the event were literally non fishable, and bait was non existent. But ourClass of 23 participants fished hard and the results are  pretty obvious. Class of 23 ruled!

FINAL STANDINGS: