It's the last tournament of the season. You’re sitting in 18th place in the Open Class with a 27-pound drop fish. There are a couple of teams behind you with just two fish and some with much smaller drop fish. What do you do? David Myer, Brent Moss, Nick Pratt, Brandon Myer, and Jack Garner, entered the Kajun Classic, the final event of Division 7, with that scenario facing them head on. Did they give up? Absolutely not! They pulled out all the stops, pushed their Honda powered Triton, aptly named Get Er’Dun, through two to five-foot seas, and didn’t come to the scales light.

There were four tournaments scheduled this year for the upper Gulf’s Division Seven. One of those, the Pensacola tournament, was cancelled over a prize dispute, leaving three. That was OK, because three events constitute a Division’s season. But there were a lot of teams who were counting on the fourth event to make it to the Nationals. Anthony Toups came forward and said he would make his facility available in Fourchon, so it was set. Then the weekend of the event, Mother Nature pulled a fast one that sent the hurricane forecasters onto the airwaves. The low that sat over Florida for a week was coming west and would develop into a tropical storm. The event was postponed till the following weekend. A weekend later, teams arrived in Fourchon to find east winds that pushed the seas to two to five feet, but it was fishable.

“The seas made things uncomfortable but our Triton had no trouble with them,” said David Myer, team Captain of the Get Er’Dun. “We were on the bubble and knew we needed a good king to ensure our Nationals participation.” The team came to dock well before the “fish till the last minute” gang pointed their boats north. “It’s not bad,” said Myer, but by upper Gulf standards a 42.84 would not win a tournament and the team knew it. However as the afternoon wound down to the 6 PM deadline, not one team produced a bigger king. This was their weekend, picking up $10,000 in cash and a gift certificate from Air Tran Airways, the official airways of the SKA, for $1,000; good for two anywhere they fly. The 43 pounder moved the team to 14th for the season.

The only team to come close and one of the last to weigh was David Van Lent’s Truckin On. Van Lent, Jeff Hall, Rose Van Lent, and Mike Ward smiled for the camera after retrieving their 40.24 from the weighmaster. “Fishing has been tough all season,” said Mike Ward, and there is no greater authority on Upper Gulf fishing than Mike. However their team cruised to an eighth place finish in the Division. As David is a past “Angler of the Year,” he gets an automatic nod to the Nationals and will be purged from the standings so another team can move up. Rose was the tournament’s Top Lady Angler.

Jeff Boudreaux’s Oompa Loompa team needed this fourth tournament. They were in 23rd and were out of the Nationals picture. Boudreaux, Don Quick, Scott Bynog, and J.W. Berry, rose to the occasion, pushing their Suzuki powered Twin Vee southwest, and found a 39.27 and the Kajun’s third place money. “We’re really excited about going to Biloxi. Living so close and not being able to go was not an option,” said Don Quick.

George Simon III would have made the big event without his fourth place 35.01, but it replaced a 25 pounder which gave him, Jamie Mixon, and Drew Stroud fourth place money and George a fifteenth place in the overall standings. George fishes a Yamaha powered Contender named Speckulator.

Stephen Barfoot is a past Class of 23 National Champion and only needed this event to fulfill his “fish two events” requirement to get his automatic nod to the Nationals. He’s going with a little extra cash in his, Spencer Johnson, and Kevin Butler’s, pockets. The Snafu team won the Class of 23 in this event with a nice 38.35. This should give the team a big confidence builder going into Biloxi.

Cecil Capps Jr., Earl Burbridge, Gerry Rucker, Landon Rucker, and Jay Doole, fished the Sea Hagg into second place in the Class with a 35.18. The team went into the event leading the Class and did not need the 35 to keep them there, but it’s nice to end the season on a positive note. Cecil and his team have been fishing together for a long time and have won numerous Class titles. This year Gerry Rucker brought his son Landen to the team. Landen is our Top Junior in the tournament and for the Year in Division Seven. I just can’t imagine the education this young man is getting on this boat. Sea Hagg is a Yamaha powered Contender.

Fred Watkins Jr., Ken Jansen, Todd Garner, and Butch Smith scaled a 32.57, which put their Get Layed team into third place in the Class. Like Cecil, the team fishes a Contender and finished in the top five in the Class of 23 Division standings.

Fishing was tough this year in the upper Gulf but as expected, this gang rose to the occasion and still made a good season out of it. Many thanks to the Kajun Sportsman, Anthony Toups, and his family for their picking up the ball and hosting this fourth event.