Using hard tails that were caught the day and night before, the team hooked up to a fifty-pound king mid morning. Another important factor in this weekend’s fishing. “We were fighting the king off the bow,” said Bennie Sr. after climbing off his Mercury powered Contender. “Our rule is to pitch another bait off the stern in case another king was swimming with the hooked king. As soon as Joey pitched the hard tail another king struck the bait.”

The fifty-pound king came in the boat while Joey was getting onto his king. “She made three long runs then came to the boat,” Joey told me as he posed for the throng of cameras on the ADSFR docks. “The fight lasted maybe twenty-five minutes.”

The third textbook move came when they slid up to the Rodeo weigh-in dock shortly after noon.

“We’ve got her Jack,” Bennie Sr. exclaimed as Rodeo officials helped secure the boat to the dock. “She won’t even fit in the bag.”

As they open their forward hatch, I looked in and was amazed to see at least eighteen inches of king mackerel sticking out of a well iced insulated fish bag. Bennie said, “What do you think?” All’s I could say was “that’s a huge king,” not wanting to jinx the official weight.

I took their picture and then moved with the team to the official Rodeo weigh- in station. Bennie Sr. then asked Bob Shipp, the Rodeo’s official weigh-master what he thought of the king. He too echoed my sentiments, “This is one big fish.”

Bob then proclaimed 64.50. The team of course began with pats on the back and high fives. Their textbook scenario was now complete. As word quickly spread, they had now deflated every other king mackerel competitor in the event. They were now fishing for second place.

This was the largest king mackerel we’ve seen this season. Yes, we’ve caught a couple of sixty-two’s, but this behemoth was two pounds larger. Officially, the king measured sixty-four inches in length, from the nose to fork, and had a twenty-four inch girth.

Bill Nunnery, 69 pounds and twelve ounces, set the Rodeo record for king mackerel in 1988.

The rodeo king mackerel fishermen are broken into two groups, those who trailer to Louisiana to fish, coming back on Sunday, the final day of the event. Others stay in Alabama. This year it was more than clear, Alabama waters were where it was at. Bait however was a huge problem. It was extremely scarce with some teams thinking that the king mackerel fishery is so good they’re eating all the bait. Whatever your take on the situation it still remained, no bait, no fish.

Brian Bailey, Brian Bailey Jr., Robbie Bush, Michael Hicks, and Jarrod Gibson, were one of those teams who fished Friday and Saturday in the Delta with little luck. “We decided to fish our way back to Dauphin Island on Sunday,” said Bailey. “We didn’t have much to show for two days of fishing and we heard of better catches east of the river.”

Early afternoon they had a bite and eventually an in your face king to bring to the scale. Brian called Marcus Kennedy, who had already weighed his creel for the weekend, and informed him he had the biggest king he’s ever caught in the bag and coming to the scales. Marcus was good enough to give me a heads-up and was ready, camera in hand, to welcome the High Definition team to the dock. It went 55.35 and jumped immediately into second place and was never challenged. Michael was the angler of record for the Rodeo.

One must remember, if you live on the upper Gulf Coast, this is the event of the year. The rewards monetarily are not great but bragging rights are paramount. When you win or place in any of the thirty-one different species, you are king till the following year. The Rodeo is the largest and oldest in the country and should be on any tournament anglers bucket list.

  Rob Lupola, Ken Odom, and Ray Martinez are no strangers to the leader board and this important weekend was no different. Fishing the Mercury powered Onslow Bay named Strike Two, the team came to the docks on Friday with a great 52.07 to capture third.

The trio fished their Class of 23 Mercury powered Onslow Bay sixty miles south of Biloxi. “Ray caught her at eleven-thirty using a hard-tail on the surface dressed with a Cape Lookout Lure.

Now you have to understand coming to the dock after a sixty-four has been weighed isn’t too impressive, however, any day you catch a fifty and get into the fifty pound club you’ve done something very special so congratulations are very much in order.

There are a handful of teams in the upper Gulf that just refuses to quit. Neal Foster’s Intense team is one of those. “We caught a forty-five on day one but after seeing Bennie’s 64 on display for the Rodeo crowd we definitely had to go back to work” said Neal.

 With Mark and Josh Collier, and Robby and Andrew Montgomery, they worked the waters south of Dauphin Island but needed the final day, Sunday, to bag their 50.65. “If you quit, even after seeing a sixty-four on the scale, you’ll never win or place,” said Foster who has his share of wins and a Division title.

Fifth place went to Lynn Nolen on the Pure Attitude with a 49.33. Lynn, Steve Hall, Darren Banchard, Meagan Deakle, and Jason Hebert fished seventy miles from Dauphin Island in two hundred feet of water.

“Steve caught her fishing a hard tail down forty-five feet,” said Nolen. “I thought for sure she would go fifty but we’ll take her.”

Nolen fishes a Mercury powered Yellowfin. Meagan won the Jack Crevalle Division with a super 33.37.

Gary Hiles came over from Texas to qualify in Division 7 and has certainly accomplished that. His Yamaha powered Contender team, Linda Hiles, Matthew Kern, Jason Stier, and John Gastian scaled a nice 49.10 on Friday to earn sixth.

The Quietus team, fishing a Mercury powered Yellowfin, picked up seventh with a 47.25. David Rogers Jr., J.J. Gilmore, Jason Andrews, and Joey Spiers make up the team.

Eighth place fell to another Class boat, Backlash. Joe Shell Jr. and Sr. plus Chris Shell, and Darrell Schofield with a 44.76. They fish a Yamaha powered Cape Horn.

Class boats certainly have no disadvantage in this event. We had two in the top ten in the Rodeo. Technically, you can leave any port within the Rodeo boundaries anytime after midnight on Thursday and begin fishing at five am on Friday morning. You can come and go as you please, even coming to the scales many times trying to improve on your weight in any category. All boats must be in line to weigh by Sunday afternoon at five. It’s a real hoot!

Finishing ninth was David Van Lent’s Truckin Up. Fishing with his wife Rosemary, Jeff Hall, Mike Ward, and Mike Kaminsky, they scaled a 44.47.

Tenth went to a non-member.

The King Mackerel Divisions (Open and Recreational) have  Jackpots you can sign up for, which pays more than just prizes. This year Ritchie Byrd won the 17foot Scout boat, Yamaha Outboard, and Loadmaster trailer package in the random drawing for any team member who scales a legal king mackerel. Ritchie fishes on the Byrd Dog. 

This year’s event had 3,163 anglers participate and the Kids rodeo held the weekend before had 1,393 competitors. This is not only one of the oldest events in the country dating back seventy-seven years, but it is also the largest event in the country. It is managed and run by the Mobile Jaycees, a dedicated group of young men who each year make the Rodeo seem so easy. If you talk to any of the fifty volunteers you find a common enthusiasm you don’t see to often today. They are to be congratulated for their superb efforts and I know they don’t get that praise often enough!

The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo also serves another function, valuable marine science. There had to be fifty to sixty students there to do biology samples from many fish but especially red snapper and redfish, both under fire from the feds. This data will hopefully help with future assessments.

The feds were there too for a second year of collecting DNA samples to help us get what is advertised in restaurants and fish markets. Their sampling gives them the ability to verify the specie being sold after filleting.

Congratulations to all who participated. We had a great time as we always do. For one, and I have to work the Rodeo, I wouldn’t miss it. It’s definitely my favorite event!