MBARA Tourney Scores Big

The Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association held its 14th Annual Kingfish Tournament last Saturday and lots of big kingfish were weighed at the scales located at Marquardt’s Marina. The winning fish weighed 40.35 pounds and was caught by Larry Lemieux on the boat named Gag Reflex. His teammates were Chris Diehl and Russell Stewart. The winner received $3,000 for first place.

Ron Childs, tournament director, said “We had clouds and rain, and the seas were pretty bumpy, but we had 138 boats out there trying hard to win the big prize.

“We count on this tournament each year to help us raise money to build reefs, and we are really pleased to have this number with the bad weather.”

Second place was won by Sean Cooper on Just One More with a weight of 38.6 pounds.  Third place was won by Jimmy Stephens with a fish weighing 37.1 pounds in the boat named Bob Cat.

First place in the wahoo division was won by Jason Hines with a 44.20 pound fish in the boat named Salt Crusher.  First place in the Spanish mackerel division went to John Salter in the boat named High Interest. The big Spanish weighed 5.25 pounds. 

Childs said, “With money we get from this tournament and other grants we will be deploying another $80,000 worth of reef material in September. We have built over a million dollars worth of reefs right off of our shores since l997, and we are getting stronger each year.”

Pictures from the tournament with all the winners and participants can be viewed on line at the MBARA website at www.mbara.org under the photo album section.