The last shall be first.

Such was the case for the crew aboard the Perfect Shot.

Perfect Shot was the last boat in Monday evening, but it was worth the wait for the crowd gathered on the docks at AJ’s.

Just minutes before 7 p.m. (close of scales), Capt. Brady Bowman and his crew backed in at the Rodeo scales with a whopper of a king mackerel.

A couple of hours earlier, we had received word that Capt. Bowman had a big king, but you never count it until you see it on the docks.

Well it was a NICE one. Fourteen-year-old Tyler Heikkinen of Shalimar pulled in a 43.4-pound king mackerel that took over first in the charter division and first in the King Mackerel Jackpot. If his catch holds until close Wednesday evening it could be worth some big money for the captain and youngster.

Before the king was gutted it weighed 45 pounds.

Catching big king mackerel is nothing new for Capt. Bowman — last year he won the division with a 51.6-pounder.

There are two days left in the 59th annual Destin Fishing Rodeo and the count is now at 758 fish weighed.

Don’t miss out on the last two days. Anything could happen.

See you there.

-Tina Harbuck

When it comes to the Destin Fishing Rodeo, there is a lot of tradition — after all it’s an event that’s in its 59th year.

One tradition that was started four years ago by Miss Destin Amanda Sumrall is gutting a fish. Day after day, fish come in and weighmaster Bruce Cheves has his hands full gutting the fish before they are hoisted onto the scales. Of course he has help from Richard Laedeke and Ann White. But four years ago, Amanda decided she didn’t mind getting her hands dirty and wanted to capture the “whole Rodeo experience” so she decided to try gutting a fish.

Since then, it has been something that every Miss Destin has tried her hand at.

Well, this year’s Miss Destin Emily Kaltz gave it a try over the weekend. She said she gutted a dolphin on Friday, then on Saturday evening I watched her gut a king mackerel first hand.

Cheves calmly guided her through the process of where to cut, what to pull out and then toss aside. She grimaced a little, but she made it through with flying colors.

Way to go Emily.

-Tina Harbuck