"Goodman and Sons Jewelers and Wynne Ford presented the 13th Annual Cobia Tournament to benefit Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters (CHKD) on 14 Jun on docks at Downtown Hampton. The Downtown Hampton Development Partnership supported and provided the city piers for the tournament. The Captain's Meeting was hosted by Marker 20 on Friday night with a visit from Miss Hampton Roads, Elizabeth Crot. We had a great turnout at the meeting. Moody's Seabag 2 sold our tournament T shirts, caps, visors, pens, koosies, and glasses with a portion of their proceeds going to CHKD. Smith Marine Electronics, Trident Marine Electronics and Pickins Company provided the door prizes that Miss Hampton Roads, Elizabeth Crot graciously presented.
Jim Whitson, Tournament Director and Jimmy Rogers, Tournament Founder, presided over the meeting explaining the rules of engagement. Jim explained that each boat must display the tournament flag provided by Carpet Mill Outlet at all times and must present the flag to the weigh master before 5:00pm in order to weigh a fish.
Joe Grist of VMRC was the Weigh Master for the tournament and spoke at the meeting to make sure that everyone knew the procedures for the weigh in. Sam Rust Seafood came through and helped us to have chum and bait or our fishermen.
We pre-registered 41 boats before the meeting and by the end of the night we had 56 boats registered. The tournament got started at 6:00 am Saturday morning, June 14. There were 56 boats registered in the tournament. There were six fist caught weighing from the winning fish at 43.6 lb to 18.3 lb. Capt Don Lancaster of Fishing Tidewater did a live broadcast during the weigh in.
Prizes:1st Place -Rolex Watch from Goodman and Sons Jewelers plus $3700 -Capt Tim Elliot, fish caught by Arron Tatem weighed 43.6 lb
2nd Place - $2300 - Capt Will Everett, fish caught by J.L. Askew weighed 36.4 lb
3rd Place - $1500 - Capt Jason Williams, fish caught by Jason Williams weighed 35.8 lb
4th Place - Budweiser Pool Table Light- Capt Scott Breeden, caught by Scott Breeden weighed 32.1 lb
5th Place - Fishing Rod donated by Bishops - Capt James (Bubba) Moore, caught by Bubba Moore weighed 28.0 lb
6th Place - Budweiser Patio Umbrella and Cooler - Capt Julie Ball, caught by Julie Ball weighed 18.3 lb.
Dr. Julie Ball also won the Women's Prize - $500 Gift Certificate to Goodman and Sons Jewelers
In addition to the fishing prizes, the tournament gave out more than 15 door prizes donated by M. Price Distributing. The cookout and awards ceremony were held in Carousel Park on Sat night. Council woman, Ms Angela Leary, welcomed everyone to Hampton. Jim Whitson introduced Dr. Julie Ball as the MC for the ceremony. Dr. Julie Ball was sponsored in the tournament by Wynne Ford. The first place prize was a Rolex watch donated by Goodman and Sons Jewelry. Mr. Stuart Goodman presented the prizes with the help of Miss Norfolk, Ashley Smith.
The Hampton Roads Phi Mu Sorority Alumni group raised $600 for CHKD through donations from the participants during the captain's meeting and the tournament. The ladies also volunteered to serve the beer for the profits from the sell of the beer. The beer profits were also $600. They raised over $1200 for CHKD in addition to the proceeds of the tournament.I saved the best for last. In addition to providing a day of family fun fishing and enjoying ourselves at the cookout, we raised over $4000 for Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.
We could not have had the success that we did without our sponsors,each and every one of them contributed to the success of the tournament."
