“We went to Fourchon to redeem ourselves four days early,” Vaughan added.  “The whole team, Mark Wilson, Scott Snively, Willie Reichert, and Stephanie Matlock, wanted to find a big king to move us up.  They worked so hard.”

On day one of the event the team found a rig sitting in 140 feet of water. “It was pretty green water and no one else was there. We pulled on and eventually scaled a nice 42. 26 on day one, but we were there to try to find that big fish that has eluded us.”

They went back on day two to the same spot. “Marcus and a couple of other boats showed up but we really felt good about this spot even thinking we could pull a big hoo out of here too,” Vaughan added.

The team slid another 42 over the gunwale early morning then the bite shut down. “The others stuck it out for a while but soon moved on,” Vaughan elated. “We stayed, then about one o’clock she hit. Scott picked up the rod and he immediately thought we had a big wahoo on. Scott got the fish to surface about twenty feet from the boat and hollered, it’s a king. I took one look at her and hollered for the gaff. We were amazed when she came in the boat, we finally had the big girl we have been looking for.”

Back at the Kajun Sportsman Tournament site the Old Blue team got excited once again as the electronic scales LED lights settled on 54.62. Then Deona Holmes told the crowd over the PA system that the combined weight of the Old Blue from each day of the two-day event was 96.88 and that they were number one at that point.

Imagine the nerves waiting to see if the aggregate would hold up and reward the team the $40,000 top prize. It did and moved the team from thirty-second to fourteenth in the overall standings. “You can’t believe how long we’ve been chasing the dream,” said Vaughan to the awards crowd who were on their feet cheering for him and the team.

Their five fish aggregate totals 188.19, a 37.76 per fish average. When you consider the Pro’s Number One thru three events, Bandit, with a six fish aggregate of 238.33, or a 39.72 per fish average, Old Blue is still in the hunt.

Another team really stood out also. After day one, Terry Grantham’s My Three Sons 48.74 pound king was in striking distance of winning the third leg of the YPKT. They needed one more big fish. “I don’t like to fish in a crowd,” said Grantham. “We ran 110 miles to the west to find water we had to ourselves and it was incredible.”

The Yamaha powered Yellowfin team,  Grantham, Charles Grantham, Chris Blanton, and Kelly Sisk worked an area at 140 feet. “We only fished about two and a half hours a day,” Grantham added. “But what a non-stop time it was.” They found an abundance of forty pound kings, which they had to work thru to get the biggest and they were fighting wahoo in the process.

After that nice 48 on day one, Kelly Sisk hooked up to what eventually would be scaled at 47.73. Then add the boatload of wahoo plus second place money and you end up with a successful week in Louisiana.

“This has to be the best fishery in the country,” added Grantham. “Never have I ever seen so many mid forty pound kings skying at one time.  It’s a long drive over here but one everyone needs to make if they really love fishing.”

Instead of going home after the event, Grantham moved to Venice and kept right on fishing. “The tuna fishing has been superb. You get to fishing and you just don’t want to leave!”

It should be noted that the difference between Grantham and Vaughan’s aggregate was less than a half a pound. Two great fishing teams!  

Jose Reye’s Papotanic team finally got it going with a two fish aggregate of 92.47, just four and a half pounds out of first. “We fished in the same general area both days and we weren’t that far from Fourchon,” said team member and co-captain Bill Platt.  ‘We caught the 50.85 on day one and had her in the boat by 9:30. That was a great feeling.” Jose caught the fish, with Bill handing him the rod when she hit. Bill went back to the wheel until the fish was close then had gaff in hand as Jose led the big girl by the side of the Yamaha powered Contender.

“We knew that it was going to be a good event after catching a forty-four just west of where we were fishing,” Platt added.

On day two, the team of Reyes, Platt, Randy Griffin, Rick Vallone, and Marc Bledsoe caught a nice 41.62 in the same area. “The water cleared up,” said Platt. “That area was chocolate brown earlier in the week. We fished in 150 feet of water.”

The team had a horrible Key West tournament which will keep them from winning the Angler of the Year title but with their strong showing should end up in the top twenty this year. This is a very strong team and will come back in 2010 and win it all. Remember you heard it here first!

The 2004 “Angler of the Year” Dean Spatholt fished his way into the fourth spot with a two fish aggregate of 89.31.

Spatholt, Dennis Watson, and David Jones, fishing the Yamaha powered Yellowfin named Rascal Meister, caught a 42.75 on day one, then came right back on day two with a super            
46.56.

That aggregate moved Spatholt into seventeenth place with a five fish aggregate of 176.63 or a five fish average of 35.33.  They are not out of it yet!

Rounding out the top five was Gulf of Mexico fishing veteran Marcus Kennedy’s Kwazar team. With Robert Young, Max Williama and David VanLent on board the Yamaha powered Yellowfin, they struggled with a 34.95 on day one. But not to be outdone, came right back on day two with a great 52.52 to get a check for their efforts.

This year the Pro’s caught four fish in the 50’s up from two the year before. When you add the Divisional equation into the catch, we had one more fifty-pound king caught.  They did not match Surreel’s 57.57-caught last year.
  Mad Gaffer, and certainly a team we must watch this year in the chase for
the title, picked up sixth. Stuart Fitzgerald, Kathie Stuart,  Don Lamb, Mike Penny, Jeff Silverthorne, and Stephanie Baugh caught a 48.36 on day one but could only muster a 37.76 on day two.  That’s an 86.12 aggregate. The Mad Gaffer team sits comfortably in seventh place overall with a 37.44 six fish average. That’s only 13.68 pounds out of first and they have a 25.54 as their drop fish. They fish a Mercury powered Fountain.

Seventh place fell to Ron Mitchell’s Bandit. Ron and his teammates, Will Geraghty, Carl Carder, David Butler, Brad Butler, and Ted Elliott were very consistent scaling a 42.20 and a 42.01 for an 84.21 aggregate. The ’06 Angler of the Year now finds himself in first place in the overall standings with a six fish aggregate of 238.33. That’s an average of 39.72 per fish.

The Bandit does not have a good drop fish however, so his seventh and final fish added to their aggregate must come in the final two events.  They are in a very enviable position. Four days of fishing, one forty pounder could seal another title. The ball is in their court!

Arik Bergerman’s Caliente, a Mercury powered Yellowfin, picked up eighth with 84.01 points. Arik, John Smith Sr., Paul Rogers, and Brian Hasson, scaled one of the five fifty pound kings, a 50.69, in this event. It was their second king, a 33.32, that held them back although eighth is nothing to sneeze at.  They are in eighth overall in the standings and with two events left I for one would never count this highly motivated team out from winning it all.

If Bill and Mike Butler, Donald Bourgeois, Steve Jenkins, and Rick Ryan hadn’t fished their Yamaha powered Invincible, Crawgator, into the top ten I would have been very surprised. After all, the Louisiana based Venice Marina is home to the Butlers and they are considered to be very dangerous in their own waters.

They could only muster a 34.85 on day one but came back on day two and smacked a nice 45.26.

Rounding out the top ten was Andre Moore’s Crikey with a two fish aggregate of 79.98. Fishing an Evinrude powered Invincible his team scaled a 35.43 and a 44.55. The team is still third overall in the standings. They can still win the title being about eight pounds out of the lead.

Conrad Lau and Dell Williamson did not finish in the money. Their big fish was a 44.27 so they relinquished their top spot to the Bandit, however, the Koolau team is just three pounds behind. This is shaping up to be one of the tightest races we’ve seen in a long, long time.

Last year’s aggregate from Surreel was 105.88 compared with Old Blues 96.88. Tenth was 85.06 compared with Crikey’s 79.98. Not quite as good this year but weather certainly played a roll.

As usual, Anthony Toups did a great job with the event and the food both nights of the event. By the way, he caught a great seventy-five pound yellowfin tuna on the first day of the event.

See everyone in Golden Isles!