BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) — The 78th annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo is underway this Independence Day weekend, and anglers are already making their mark at the scales with just one of four days complete.
The tournament draws a mix of returning competitors and first-timers each year. Connor Davis said this is his second year in the rodeo after a slow showing in his debut.
“I’ve done it one other time. I did it last year, but we didn’t have no luck last year. We didn’t catch anything very big,” Davis said. “We did pretty well. Today, we just entered a Jack Crevalle and a Spanish. We’re in second for Jack and first for Spanish, but we had a great day across the board with trout and redfish.”
First-time competitor Rodie Armes, 16, made an immediate impression, bringing in what he called the biggest bull shark he has ever caught.
“I brung in a big bull shark, biggest one I’ve ever caught in my life,” Armes said.
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Armes said he fought the 312-pound shark for 45 minutes after it took cut barracuda as bait.
“It was half of my little brother’s barracuda we used for bait. We cut it up, threw it over, and about five minutes later it come up and swallowed it,” Armes said. “I get the rod, I bow down on him while they finish harnessing me up. About 45 minutes later, we get him to the boat.”
“Everybody was jumping around; we were so excited. It was amazing,” Armes said.
The rodeo continues through the weekend, with three days remaining for anglers to bring catches to the scales.
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