GULFPORT, Mississippi - The 66th annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo opened in style Thursday at Jones Park in the Gulfport Small Craft Harbor.
In fact, when the scales opened at noon, Jordan Terwilliger of Saucier was standing in line to weigh the first fish of the rodeo. The 10-year-old weighed a nine-ounce bream and Tyler Terwilliger hit that scales second with a 2.8-pound speckled trout.
The first hour also featured four black drum and nearly identical two gar, that were with seven-ounces of each other.
Jordan Peterson of McHenry hit the scales first with a 67.7-pound gar before Tyler McIntyre of Gulfport tipped the scales at 67-pounds.
Another top catch was a 11.11-pound blackfish by Jacqui Surman of Ridgeland and a 112.9-pound stingray by David Saucier of Gulfport.
In all, the first hour saw 14 of the 28 categories in freshwater and saltwater filled with at least one place.
"What a great start," said weighmaster Mark Wright. "Usually, we have freshwater fish dominate the first part of the rodeo. Not the case this year because we had a good mix.
"To have two fish (gar) that close in weight was unusual. With gar, you generally see a difference of 20-to-30 pounds. These two gar were like siblings. They looked like twins."
The next two hours of the rodeo saw Dylan Cook of Perkinston weigh a 2.15-pound speckled trout and Anthony Foto of Ocean Springs hit the scales with a 26.13-pound catfish.
The final fish of the day belonged to 10-year-old Bubba Levine of Ocean Springs with a 3.4-pound bass.
When the opening day came to an end, 18 of the 18 categories had fished entered.
Scales are open Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 pm and from noon to 4 pm on Sunday.
A free kids fishing rodeo is set for Saturday with weigh scales open from noon to 4 pm.
"If the winds stay low and the thunderstorms at bay, this rodeo is going to be huge," Wright said. "It was a great day considering a lot of the fishermen had to work. That means we are going to see more fish over the next three days and some bigger fish, too. But for the first day - especially the first few hours of the first day - I can't complain at all."