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PURSE SNATCHER CAPTURES 73RD ANNUAL ALABAMA DEEP SEA FISHING RODEO! SCALES A 60.92 By Jack Holmes

DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA. Leaving the dock at sunrise, the 23’ Mercury powered Fountain, Purse Snatcher, headed south. Forty-two miles later Aaron Wells pulled back on the throttles and proclaimed, “This is where we’ll start fishing.” With wife Melissa and her father Bob Wyres on board, Aaron went for the tackle. “Melissa, where did you put our rigs?” She replied, “You were suppose to bring the tackle.” OOPS!
Rummaging through the boat Aaron was able to locate three left over rigs from their previous trip on the salt. “We set up in 130 feet of water,” said Wells. “We had pre-fished the area and had some high hopes. By 9:30 we had a small king and shark. Then she skied on a hard tail on the long line. We knew she was big, but not as big as she turned out to be.”
The team stuffed the big girl into their bag and raced for the scale. At 11:30 Aaron hoisted the slab on the Rodeo’s counter. “This is the earliest we’ve ever seen a king this size,” commented one of the judges. Weighmaster Bob Shipp stared at the scale, paused for a moment, and then to the delight of the Purse Snatcher team, bellowed out, “I need a writer. King Mackerel Jackpot 60.92.”
The rest was history. On a weekend that found king mackerel fishing mediocre at best, at 11:35 in the morning on the first day of the three-day event, the rest of the field was now fishing for second place including Class of 23 also. The Wyres/Wells team shared in the big victory and their biggest fish to date.
The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo is the largest saltwater tournament in the country. It has 30 species anglers can weigh with prizes in each of the categories. On the serious side, anglers can elect to get into the jackpot divisions, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, big game. In 1929 it cost five dollars to fish the rodeo. Today that same ticket is just $40.
XS Rated is having a stellar season. The boat’s owner and Captain, Matthew Caldwell, ran a 31’ Fountain last season named Black Magic but did not qualify. I believe that the team of Zachary Lewis, Damian Bond, Mark Smith and Kevin Higginbotham came back this year with a vengeance. With a new boat, a quad Mercury engined Yellowfin, the team has a three fish aggregate of 153 points thanks to the 54.17 they weighed in the rodeo and retain the Division 7 lead.
The team left Friday morning, picked up fresh hard tails at their usual spot, then ran sixty miles south of Mobile to an area they believed to be holding good kings. After releasing some small kings early, a hard tail trolled 50 feet below the surface was hit. “We were fishing in 102 feet of water when she hit,” said Caldwell. “Twenty minutes later Zackery had her to the boat. It was the biggest king we caught so far this year so we packed up and headed for the scales.” Although we continued to hear about 50-pounders being caught to the west in the Delta, none came in to challenge the RX Rated’s second place standings.
David Jones’ 36-foot Contender, Conxxxtion, was throttled to the Gus, a rig sixty miles southwest of Mobile. “Water conditions looked real good and over the course of the weekend we must have caught over 30 kings in the 30-pound range,” explained Jones who fished with Mark and Glen Jones and Hank Anderson. “We just didn’t find that good fish until Sunday, but we never gave up. At 12:30 she finally came, skiing on a ribbonfish in the prop wash. We put her in the bag and headed for the scale.”
They received third place honors.
The Sea Hagg was fourth and second Class of 23’ boat. Cecil Capps Jr., Earl and Wesley Burbridge and Gerry Rucker make up one of the finest Class of 23’ teams in the history of the SKA. They bagged a 48.48-pounder this weekend and went into a strong lead in the divisional standings. In fact their 142-point three-fish aggregate would be second overall in overall competition.
“We fished the west Delta but only could find kings in the 30’s the first couple of days. On Sunday morning at 8 a.m. she hit a hard tail 50 feet down on the rigger,” Capps told us. “Gerry caught the fish and we immediately headed for the scales.”
Marcus Kennedy did well this weekend, scaling a 47.93 fifth place king and winning the amberjack division with a 72-pounder. “We drift fished from five to seven each morning, then we went bottom fishing,” said Kennedy. “We released a lot of kings in the thirties and low forties, but on the last day we picked up our big girl.” On board the Kwazar, a Yamaha powered Contender, was Marcus’ son Tyler, Billy Young, Brett Rutledge, Max Williams and Kenny Smith.
In the Kingfish Jackpot the rodeo pays back 20 places, the top prize being $10,000. For every team that weighs a king over 30 pounds, they get a ticket for a drawing for a 20-foot Yamaha powered Polar boat. Marcus, who has been a strong proponent for rodeo management to use the boat for a first place king mackerel prize, won the boat in the drawing.
Richie Byrd’s Byrd Dog, a 23-foot Yamaha powered Contender, earned sixth place with a nice 47.42. This king, his best of the season, moved his team of Ron Wiggins, Art Owens and Brian Hicks into fifth place in the Division.
Seventh place fell to the 2000 Angler of the Year team, In The Rough. David Van Lent, Rosemary Van Lent and Jeff Hall could only fish the first two days of the event because of their Pro commitment. They had to be in Jacksonville, Florida for registration on Sunday. Several teams were under the same constraints but still fished the rodeo. The team scaled a 47.29. Rose has a half-point lead in the lady’s division over Shea Foster. If she is successful in holding onto this lead, she could be the first lady to win Lady Angler of the Year in both East Coast and the Gulf regions.
Eighth place fell to Frank Wells’ On the Edge, a Yamaha powered Edgewater with a 46.92. This was their first fish of the season but with two events left they still have a shot at qualifying.
Ninth place goes to Stephen McMullen’s Airborne with a 46.23 while Wayne Davis’ Captain W picked up tenth with a nice 45.97.
Out of the twenty places up for grabs, SKA teams picked up 18 of the 20 places.
Matt Lukas and his father AM caught an Alabama Deep Sea Rodeo record scamp on Saturday, 17.06 pounds only to see the record shattered again on Sunday. John Salter weighed a 19.34 to knock Lucas, an SKA member who fishes the JC’s Contender, out of the record books.
Paul Hebert who fishes aboard Wayne Davis’ Fountain, Captain W, caught a 56.59-pound wahoo to take first in that category.
Neal Foster’s Intense weighed a 45-pound king to end up 13th overall however J.J. Tabor scaled a 55.71 wahoo to take second place in that category.
All in all, it was a very impressive weekend for SKA members and our congratulations go out to them.

A special observation by Jack Holmes:

Still fresh on everyone’s minds was the carnage fostered by Hurricane Ivan last year. While most of the media focus centered on Orange Beach east thru Pensacola, very little was said about Dauphin Island. The Mobile Jaycees and advisors, who own their tournament site on the island, found very little left of the structures. There was damage to the big building that houses the tournament offices, supply area, and kitchen. Over a foot of mud was inside the structure. The weigh-in station only had four metal poles still standing and the docks and pilings were completely gone. “We spent over two months gathering lumber scattered over the east side of the island,” said ’05 President Pat Troup. “The volunteers spent two months of weekend work just removing debris from the rodeo grounds. We can’t afford insurance; it’s just too expensive. So we had no other options, we had to rebuild ourselves.” It was an enormous undertaking and one that most Directors doubted could be finished for this year’s rodeo. “We finished it up just a couple of weeks before the kid’s rodeo. Then we got a big scare when another hurricane threatened and postponed that event. We keep aside a little money each year for a disaster but we have drained the coffers,” Troup added. The hurricane scare cost the rodeo 700 anglers this year also hurting the receipts of the event.
This year the rodeo went from $35 to $40 per ticket and I heard some rumblings from a few malcontents. Imagine that! A bargain even at $50, and they complain. The volunteers from the Mobile JC’s give hundreds of hours of their time for charity and the marine science lab on Dauphin Island, not to mention the hours spent insuring prizes for the rodeo. Prizes, I might add, that have gone up significantly over the past several years. On top of that, they had the misfortune of Hurricane Ivan and worked overtime to rebuild and insure the success of this year’s event. They are all heroes in my book and deserve all the accolades the fishing community can muster.
To Troup, his wife, and all the past Presidents, the Executive Committee, Vice Presidents, and advisors, congratulations on a job well done. You went above and beyond the call of community spirit and this is the real story of the 73rd Annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo!

FINAL STANDINGS:

1. PURSE SNATCHER 60.92
Fountain …. Mercury
Bob Wyres
Aaron Wells
Melissa Wells
2. XS RATED 54.17
Yellowfin …. Mercury
Matthew Caldwell
Zachary Lewis
Damian Bond
Mark Smith
Kevin Higginbotham
3. CONXXXTION 48.74
Contender …. Yamaha
David Jones
Mark Jones
Glen Jones
Hank Anderson
4. SEA HAGG 48.48
Contender … Yamaha
Cecil Capps Jr.
Earl Burbridge
Wesley Burbridge
Gerry Rucker
5. KWAZAR 47.93
Contender … Yamaha
Marcus Kennedy
Tyler Kennedy
Robert Young
Max Williams
6. BYRD DOG 47.42
Contender … Yamaha
Richie Byrd
Ron Wiggins
Art Owens
Brian Hicks
7. IN THE ROUGH 47.29
Contender … Yamaha
David Van Lent
Rosemary Van Lent
Jeff Hall
8. ON THE EDGE 46.92
Edgewater …
Frank Willis
Melessa King
Warren Pace
Tim Land
9. AIRBORNE 46.23
Cape Horn …. Yamaha
Stephen McMullen
Sean McMullen
Jay Watts
Mike Hart
Jimmy Madden
10. CAPTAIN W 45.97
Fountain …. Mercury
Wayne Davis
Ron Dupre
Paul Hebert
Clarence Foret
11. Rough Water Marine 45.89
12. REEL JOY 45.58
Grady White … Yamaha
Robert Yearley
Richard Kearley
Edie Kearley
Johnathan Broeckman
Bret Tilyou
13. INTENSE 45.34
Contender …. Yamaha
Neal Foster
Shea Foster
Robby Montgomery
J.T. Tabor
Andrew Montgomery
14. TEAM SPEAR IT 45.20
Mako … Johnson
Chris Denton
Clay Courtney
Marty Wagner
Ryan Byrd
Lee Buchann
15. DIRTY WHITE BOYS 45.15
Contender … Mercury
Roy (To-Jo) White
Nic White
George White
Jade White
Tony Sicola
Mark McPherson
16. MY DINGHY 44.13
Cape Horn … Yamaha
James Hosman
John Hosman
Tony Conklin
17. JIG-A-LOW 43.87
Pathfinder …. Yamaha
Chad Parker
John Nailling
Doug Lambert
Judd Tompkins
18. Black Pearl Sr. 43.35
19. RAG TAG 43.24
Contender … Yamaha
Creighton Parker
Matthew McLeod
Will Condon
Brant McMullan
20. TOP PRODUCER 42.81
Contender … Yamaha
Mike Dees
Jeff Dees
Sheree Dees
Jenny Dees

SIDEBAR: