Dan Brown

Keith Flynn two-fists a pair of 30-pound flathead catfish at Saturday's 15th Annual Family Open Catfish Tournament. Flynn's team finished second.

Area anglers plied their trade in the murky depths of Lake Moultrie and the Santee Cooper Canal to try and coax the really bigguns off the bottom in this year’s 15th annual Family Open Catfish tournament sponsored by the Berkeley County Rescue Squad.

With 79 boats entered and 27 teams present to weigh in their collective catch of 540 pounds of catfish at day’s end, the team captained by John Smith took top honors in the tournament and the $1,000 first place prize with 64.36 pounds of catfish.

Flatheads and blues, the Arkansas blue that is, were paraded up to the scales and weighed as camera shutters flashed and folks just shook their heads, not believing fish could get that big.

The team captained by Tina Bowen finished second, just a gill off the pace at 63.88 pounds of catfish to garner the $750 runner up prize.

The biggest catch of the day went to Greg Hardee who reeled in a 36.18-pound flathead catfish and took home a $500 bonus for his day’s work. Hardee’s team finished fourth in the tournament and split $125.

“It was a beautiful day and a beautiful day to fish,” said Captain Bill Salisbury of the Berkeley County Rescue Squad. “We had some beautiful weather. We had a lot of fun. We had some great raffle prizes. I think everybody had a good time.”

Boats started showing up at William Dennis Landing as early as 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning in anticipation of the 7 a.m. start. Boats could fish anywhere from the power house on Lake Moultrie down Tail Race Canal to Charleston Harbor.

“The only ground rule was that you had to put in at our landing,” Salisbury said. “We had to keep things level for all involved. Other than that, people could fish wherever they could haul in the big ones.”

Final weigh-in began shortly after the 3 p.m. deadline under the trained eye of Scott Lamprecht of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, official weigh master for all 15 Family Open Catfish tournaments.

“How many of these have you presided over Scott?” asked master of ceremonies Dan Moon of the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.

“All of them,” Lamprecht replied, emptying another load of catfish onto the scales.

Anglers of all ages participated in the event that raised a total of $11,000 for the Berkeley County Rescue Squad.

“We rely entirely on fundraisers and donations,” Salisbury said. “This is how we fulfill our budgetary needs now so everyone’s help and participation Saturday, especially our sponsors were greatly appreciated.”

Saturday was a good chance for old friends and new to come together for a good cause and to have a good time fishing and swapping fish stories about the big one that got away.

“It was a good day all in all,” Salisbury said. “Things went about as smoothly as they could go. Nobody had any problems. Everybody had fun. We’re already making plans for next year’s tournament on things we could do better.”

For more information donating to the Berkeley County Rescue Squad visit their website at www.berkcorescue.com.

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