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Fourchon, Louisiana - Alden Thornton's Team Hooters with Mike Collins, Dwayne Paugh, David Pennington and Allison Perkins scaled a 56.29 early on day one of the third leg of the Yamaha Professional Kingfish Tour at the Kajun Sportsman in Fourchon, Louisiana. He was followed by Brian Brandano's Pro Marine 2 / Wise Guy with another fifty, a 54.91, and Robby Brown's Miss LA followed suit with a 51.47. Then came a string of over 30 kings in the 40-pound range. The race for the cup was on.
   This event was, without a doubt, paramount to the competitors as they were allowed to weigh a third fish, the make-up fish from the cancelled second day in the Fort Pierce stop. The teams were allowed to weigh that extra fish on either day of the two-day tournament, but they had to pick the day giving a real twist to the event. Some weighed on day one, some rolled the dice, hoping to pick up a bigger one on day two.
   I fully expected to see at least two or three more 50's on Saturday but the Gulf of Mexico proved to be a little on the stingy side as the winds went from 5 to 10 on Friday, to 10 to 18 on Saturday.
   Thornton arrived at the scale to find the Miss LA already tied up waiting for the scales to open. Robby and teammates David Jones and Bob Brown unloaded a slab, which bottomed the scale at 45.21. They had a 96.68 aggregate weight total announced over the public address system. Alden said, “I don't think we've got it.” As team members crossed their fingers, their fish went on the scale. 40.69 was bellowed out by the weighmaster, and Deona Holmes quickly added the weigh with the previous days 56.29.  “96.98,” she announced and both teams went to carrying on, hugging one another with high-fives all around, Team Hooters had the victory by just three-tenths of a pound and the $40,000 top prize.
   Thornton also had the biggest king of the local event and had to pull a new 21' Yamaha powered Contender sitting on Loadmaster Trailer back home. All told the team picked up over $70,000 in cash and prizes this weekend. Alison Perkins, fishing on the Hooters team, picked up Top Lady Angler honors and Robert Brown from Miss LA was the Top Senior Angler.
   You'll be able to see both these teams in action on SKA's “Fishin’ The Trail”. We had cameramen on both boats.
   Team Hooters went into the Pro Division lead with a six-fish aggregate of 227.95, a 37.99 six-fish average. Thornton needs only to weigh a king in either of the remaining two events over 17.11 and he will beat last year's top aggregate, 245.06, set by Terry Johnson's Final Strike. Miss LA went from the cellar to 31st and only has a four fish aggregate, 170.05. He's still in the hunt but will need to weigh a fish each day of the four remaining days of the '06 Tour. He has a four-fish average of 42.62. If he weighs a 20-pounder and three 30s, the team would have 280.05 seven-fish aggregate and possibly the title. Even four 20s gives the Miss LA over 250 points! Last season he had a seven-fish aggregate of 167.84. What a difference a year makes! 
   Rounding out a top three, a North Carolina participant sweep, was Andrew Hinton's III Hot Grits. The team of David Stallings and Al Morris, Jr. had a great trip west, scaling a 49.29 and 44.94 for a 94.23 aggregate. After an 11th place finish in '05 with a seven-fish 213.13 aggregate the team now sits in fifth place with a six-fish 216.32 aggregate, way ahead of '05, plus they have a 16.56 drop fish. They join Albert Vrazel's Lured Away as the two leading Donzi team boats in the top five.
   Fourth place fell to Carl Carder's “C” Crazy. Carl weighed a 47.61 and a 45.89 for 93.50 points. This is the team's rookie season on the trail and has amassed a 196.47, five-fish aggregate. That's an average of 39.29 per fish. Surely with two events left the “C” Crazy team of Carder, Greg Samuel, Paul Paulk and Bob Lail, should be able to break last year’s winning aggregate and maybe win it all. Truly a stellar performance so far.
   After weighing the second largest king of the event, Pro Marine 2 / Wise Guy could only scale a 32.70 on the second day for 87.61 points. Brian Brandano and Danny Condrun and took fifth place money, plus earned second in the local event and the Yamaha Outboard prize. All in all, a good payday for their efforts.
   Marcus Kennedy, the king of the Upper Gulf, put the Kwazar / Wolf team into sixth place but more important, has the opportunity to earn the title after this weekend. He scaled a 47.91 on day one and a 38.72 on day two for 86.63 points. The team has a six-fish aggregate of 226.52 points, or a 37.75-pound average. They do not have a good drop fish in their six-fish aggregate but have four shots at a big fish. Marcus' son Tyler was the event’s Top Junior Angler.
   The seventh place team on the leaderboard, Ron Mitchell's Bandit, has the best five-fish average of any team in the Pros, 42.97. The Yamaha powered Contender team made up of Mitchell, Curt Johnson, David Pendergraft and Tom Kennedy has 214.84 points, good for sixth in the standings and is certainly an odds-on favorite to capture the title. The Bandit should end up between 275 and 280 points, more than enough to win the cup.
   Another Carolina team made the top ten in Fourchon. Linwood Clark's Thumpin weighed a 45.14 and backed it up with a 39.71, 84.85 points, good for eighth. That moved the Thumpin from the middle of the pack to 17th overall. With Brad Clark, Greg Theodorakis, Jess Petrosky and John Lee on board, their five-fish aggregate of 38.25 certainly places them right in the hunt. This team has fished the trail hard since '91 and everyone who knows them would be more than happy to see them go over the top this year!
   Ron Hildum's season was a disaster so far, but really not through any fault of his. He picked up his new Donzi just before Key West only to have a semi bump the boat, sending it to the ditch and ending his chances for a title this year. Most would have quit, but Donzi went to work building a new boat, and Hildum and his team of Alan Kumm, Ronnie Hildum, Sr., Mike Syrakis, Jr., and Matt Everett were determined to dig it out and at least end up with a good National Number for '07. They picked up ninth with a 48.33 and a 36.45. They deserve all the accolades we can muster on them. They have true grit!
   Rounding out the top ten was Scott Elliott's Use of Proceeds. Together with Dave Monda and Jon Pearman the team scaled a 40.48 and a 44-pounder. This is another team who has the numbers going their way to win it all. With just five fish on their side of the ledger totaling 206.49, the team has a 41.30 average. That's huge and puts their destiny squarely on their shoulders. They have the talent to win it all after finishing fourth overall last season!
   Two other teams that everyone should watch is John Griffin's Line One. He has a 212.70 five-fish aggregate or a 42.54 average. He's right in there with the rest of them. Dave Workman, Jr. has only five fish also. Not quite as good an average but everyone knows if the three-time Angler of the Year smells victory lane, he kicks it up a couple of notches. Don't bet against his resolve!
   The 11th place fell to Jeff Weather's Triple Gobble with an 81.03 aggregate while Albert Vrazel's Texas team Lured Away picked up 12th with 80.56 points.
  Randy Crabtree's Vamoose took 13th with 80.49 points while Eric Smith's Comfortably Numb earned 14th with 79.51 points.
   Rounding out the money places, 15th, was Mike Bailey's Team Offshore Carolina with 79.47 points.
    It might be noted that Lured Away, 219.16 points, Loose Lucy with 218.49 points, The Real Yellow Pages 211.92 points and Triple Gobble's 211.53 score are all in the top ten and certainly have a great shot at the title.
   Now it gets real interesting with just Savannah in late August and Little River in October left. It's past half time; time to get down to business for anyone who wants the title.                
  Anthony Toups and his family, Rebecca, Jenny, Tish, Jon and Rick, and the entire Kajun Sportsman staff put on a great event. Everyone was treated to a prime rib dinner prepared by Chef Raymond Toups at the Captain's meeting, and after the first day’s fishing everyone came back to tournament headquarters and were treated to a seafood dinner, Cajun style. With crawfish, big, fresh Gulf shrimp, and corn and potatoes, no one left hungry.

PROS FINAL STANDINGS:


1.  TEAM HOOTERS..............................96.98
      Fountain/Mercury
      Alden Thornton, North Carolina
      Mike Collins
      Dwayne Paugh
      David Pennington
      Alison Perkins
                  
2.   MISS LA........................................96.68
      Fountain/Mercury
      Robby Brown, North Carolina
      Robert Brown
      David Jones

3.   HOT GRITS....................................94.23
      Donzi/Mercury
      Andrew Hinton III, North Carolina
      David Stallings
      Al Morris Jr.
      Brent Bunn

4.   “C” CRAZY.....................................93.50
      Contender/Yamaha
      Carl Carder, Florida
      Greg Samuel
      Paul Paulk
      Bob Lail

5.   PRO MARINE 2/ WISE GUY............87.61
      Fountain/Mercury
      Brian Brandano, Florida
      Danny Condrun

6.   KWAZAR / WOLF...........................86.63
      Contender/Yamaha
      Marcus Kennedy, Alabama
      Tyler Kennedy
      Max Williams

7.   BANDIT.........................................86.18
      Contender/Yamaha
      Ron Mitchell, Florida
      Curt Johnson
      David Pendergraft
      Tom Kennedy

8.  THUMPIN........................................84.85
      Donzi/Mercury
      Linwood Clark, North Carolina
      Brad Clark
      Greg Theodorakis
      Jess Petrosky
      John Lee Ingram

9.   SWEET CAROLINE.........................84.78
      Donzi/Mercury
      Ron Hildum, Florida
      Alan Kumm
      Ronnie Hildum Sr.
      Mike Syrakis Jr.
      Matt Everett

10. USE OF PROCEEDS........................84.48
      Contender/Yamaha
      D. Scott Elliott, Florida
      Dave Monda
      Jon Pearman

11. Triple Gobble................................81.03
      Contender/Mercury
      Jeff Weathers, South Carolina
      Greg Weathers

12. LURED AWAY.................................80.56
      Donzi/Mercury
      Albert Vrazel
      Bobby Schoenfeld
      Elvin “Chico” Chamorro
      Sharon Kamp

13. VAMOOSE......................................80.49
      Donzi/Mercury
      Randy Crabtree, Florida
      Roy Boone
      Rick Henley
      W.D. Rodeffer
      Chris Crabtree

14. COMFORTABLY NUMB II................79.51
      Yellowfin/Suzuki
      Eric Smith, Florida
      Becky Smith
      Jake Smith

15. TEAM OFFSHORE CAROLINA..........79.47
      SeaCraft/Mercury
      Mike Bailey, North Carolina
      Carroll Lineberger Jr.
      Troy Reynolda
      Claus Osbahr

TOP SENIOR ANGLER .................. ROBERT BROWN
TOP LADY ANGLER ...................... ALISON PERKINS
TOP JUNIOR ANGLER .................. TYLER KENNEDY