MBARA Tournament Sets Record

The Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association held its 13th Annual Kingfish Tournament on Saturday, Aug. 29 and set an all-time record for entries in this fund-raising event.  Ron Childs, tournament director, said “We had 193 boats this year enter the tournament with almost a thousand anglers fishing for the biggest king mackerel.” 

Childs added, “People came from as far away as Nashville, Tennessee, to fish, and we had a wonderful tournament – a perfect weekend.”

The first place king mackerel was caught by John Douglas in the boat named Chicken Shack.  It weighed 37.85 pounds.  Second place went to John Conyers in Thirsty Girl with a king mackerel weighing 37.50 pounds.  Teresa Cherry caught a 36.0 pound king for third place in the boat named Brown Eyed Girl. 

This tournament is the biggest fundraiser for the MBARA which has built over 200 reefs since l997 using eight permitted areas off of Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe, Florida.

Childs said, “We had almost 2,000 people on Friday night at the Captains’ Party and cooked 800 pounds of sausage.

“That has become one of the biggest events in Mexico Beach and provides a lot of economic support for the economy,” Childs said.

The MBARA plans to use funds from this event to put out the new grouper reef designed by Keith Neel of the MBARA which will support the development of Gag grouper as they move from the grass beds of St. Joe Bay to the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.   All of the pictures from the tournament will be put on the MBARA website which is www.mbara.org