STYLISH ENDING: 27 of 28 Categories Had Fish Entered at Scales’ Closing
By Al Jones, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Jul. 5–GULFPORT — The 59th Annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo ended Wednesday at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in style.
The five-day event, billed as the World’s Largest Fishing Rodeo, saw Ronnie Monk Jr. of D’Iberville weigh a 104-pound, seven-ounce gar that secured second place behind Dennis Adams, who landed a 134-pound, three-ounce specimen.
After the second-place gar was weighed, it was placed back in the bed of Monk’s truck and released alive in Back Bay Biloxi.
The final day also saw 15-year-old Derek Dedeaux of Gulfport win the tuna category with a 64-pound, 13-ounce yellowfin.
Dedeaux, a 10th grader at Harrison Central High School, caught the tuna while trolling off the mouth of the Mississippi River.
It marked the largest tuna of Dedeaux’s young fishing career.
“We had already caught a couple of dolphin, “he said. “At first, we thought this was a dolphin.”
This however, was no dolphin as line peeled off the reel, diving into the depths of the Gulf of Mexico.
“It was a 45 minute fight,” Dedeaux said. “It didn’t fight at first. Then he started pulling and I knew I had something big.
“I was exhausted.”
When the scales closed at 4 p.m., 27 of the 28 categories had fish entered except tarpon.
In the Bass Shootout, Richard Ware of Gulfport walked away with honors after weighing a five-fish aggregate weight of 30 pounds, three ounces.
For his efforts, Ware collected a check for $870.
Taking second was Dustin Ladner of Gulfport with a five-fish total weight of 16 pounds, 13 ounces.
The biggest bass (green trout) on the final day, weighed eight pounds, eight ounces and was caught by Brentley Strickland of Perkinston.
Other top catches Wednesday were: Austin Martino of Biloxi with a six-pound, three-ounce speckled trout; Willie Harris of Lucedale with a seven-pound, five-ounce flounder; Wes Rea of Gulfport with a 26-pound, six-ounce dolphin; and Kenneth Hebert of Gulfport with a 27-pound, two-ounce catfish.
“We normally catch redfish and that’s what I thought he had,” Chris Martino said of his 12-year-old son Austin. “We caught the fish under the casino lights in Biloxi using live mullet. We hit a rising tide and the fish came out of the wood works.
“That’s his biggest trout. I was proud of him.”
In all, Walter Crapps of Pass Christian established a crappie rodeo record at two pounds, 15 ounces and Rick Grimstead of Gulfport has a pending state record in stingray at 158 pounds, one ounce.
“We had a good crowd on the final day,” weighmaster Mark Wright said. “We had every category but one filled. We might have been down in saltwater numbers but we doubled our numbers once again in freshwater.
“I consider this rodeo a success.”
ON THE WEB
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