2007 DIVISION 03 TOURNAMENT NEWS: SOUTH CAROLINA

>>Read More Mercury Trail Stories<<

FISH MEISTER'S LONG RUN PAYS OFF IN SAVANNAH

50 Pounder Earns the Team a New GMC Pick-up and $15,000!

Bob Flocken

What a great way to end a really long day. Just ask Dean Spatholt, David
Haynes, Dennis Watson and Russell Spatholt after they picked up the keys to a brand new GMC pickup and all the cash for not only winning the Savannah Kingfish Classic but also earning enough points to capture the top boat prize of $15,000 in the Blue Water Promotions Kingfish Championship Series.

“We left Calabash at 2:30 Saturday morning and drove to Morehead, launched the Fish Meister and headed to the east side of Cape Lookout.” explained David Haynes. “We stopped and netted a baitwell full of Pogies on the way. At 6:30 we started fishing on the Cape Lookout Shoals in about 140 feet of water and proceeded to catch several sharks. We figured that we could only fish for only three hours, until 9:30 and if we did catch a decent fish we would have just enough time to make it to Savannah. We fished four or five spots with nothing to show for it but lots of sharks, a couple small kings and an empty bait well. We had pretty much given up on finding a decent fish and Dean and I were cleaning the boat to go home. We had only four baits left that Dennis put out on a couple double pogie rigs while we were packing up to head back to Morehead. Just before 10:00, what we thought was a big amberjack ate one of the rigs in our propwash. Russell picked up the rod and the fish took off. She made a couple of strong runs and came to the boat. None of us were paying to much attention when Russell hollered. Dennis stuck the gaff into the big fish and I grabbed his tail. Dean had the fish box open and we dumped the big girl into the ice.” With the throttles down the Fish Meister headed south. “Thank the good Lord for the great weather” said Haynes. “The GPS showed that we had a 327 mile run to make. Luckily we were able to run a straight course toward the Savannah River or we wouldn’t have made it back in time. We never backed off of the throttles and averaged between 55 and 57mph the entire way. We were ten or twelve miles away from the inlet when we hit a big wave and all three engines quit. Our hearts stopped, but all three Yamahas fired back up and we continued on to the riverfront with just minutes to spare before the check-in closed”.

“The Fish Meister’s fish would tip the Savannah scales at 50.04lbs giving them the top prize. This was truly a “Hero or Zero” effort.” said Spatholt. “We experienced every emotion you can imagine possible during the ride south.”

Final Standings

Savannah Kingfish Classic

Division 03

Savannah, Georgia