After grabbing the first-day lead with a 42.90-pound catch in the 16th annual Key West Boats Fishing for Miracles King Mackerel Tournament, Black Cat out of Georgetown felt pretty good about being the first boat back to the docks at Ripley Light Yacht Club on Saturday's final day of fishing. That's because if a boat has a big fish, they're usually at the weigh-in early.

"We're hopeful," Black Cat owner Jamey Stewart said as he nervously watched another boat pull in behind him.

The second boat was Dirty Work, a 34-foot Venture owned by Joe Wells of Charleston and the winner earlier this season of the Tailwalker Marine King Mackerel Tournament in Georgetown.

 

The Dirty Work crew managed to throw a big scare into Stewart and his crew as they walked to the scales with a trophy fish. But Dirty Work's fish came up just a little short, weighing 41.78 pounds to claim second place in the tournament. Although it didn't count for the tournament, Dirty Work had another fish that weighed in at just over 40 pounds.

Black Cat earned the top prize of a Key West boat, motor and trailer package valued at $32,000, plus another $23,740 in cash -- $11,250 for Tournament Within a Tournament (TWT) super division; $7,000 TWT large fish; $3,990 TWT second place aggregate of 71.88; $1,000 lady angler; and $500 early entry.

"We had the same plan. We fished the same place. That was the only fish we caught today. We caught two yesterday," said Stewart, whose Saturday fish weighed 28.98 pounds. Stewart's wife Carlette was the angler and Kateland Todd and Clay Purifoy also fished with Black Cat.

Stewart said the 42.90-pound catch was their biggest ever, by more than four pounds. The Miracles victory topped a year in which the crew finished second in the Jolly Mon tournament, was 17th in Tailwalker and eighth at Sullivan's Island. Black Cat finished ninth in the 2005 Fishing for Miracles tournament.