Page 68 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2019

SPORTS & OUTDOORS lots of sh in the sea
story by Frank Wilem
photos courtesy of Tom Schubert, Wes Martin and Caitlin Corso
Frank Wilem is CEO of The Wilem Group which produces television shows including Find Your Outdoors (formerly Gulf South Outdoors.) Info on FYO air times and channels may be found on their website at www.findyouroutdoors.tv.
Anyone who fishes ends up with, well, fish stories. No surprise there. But the one that happened at the 5th Annual
Joes & Pros Trout Championship was a whopper.
The Blind Tiger started this tournament at their Bay St. Louis
location. Five years later, with just as many restaurant locations, both are still
going strong. This year, the tournament was moved to their Biloxi location across from Harrah’s Casino, which offers a larger
and more centrally located venue.
The day of the tournament was bright and sunny,
but with a 15-18 knot wind blowing the entire day. This put competing anglers at a disadvantage as they not only faced heavy seas, but dirty water and the effects of the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway.
At least it didn’t rain. And it didn’t stop the celebrities competing in the charity shootout for Kidz Outdoors from having a great time. Country music star Buddy Jewell and his family fished with Capt. David Kuehn, while Kerry Cahill (from the cast of the hit
TV series The Walking Dead) and Mrs. USA Universal Kimberly Meinhart fished with Capt. Chris Barlow.
Though they fished with some of the best charter captains on the Coast, it was tough fishing. “Kerry caught her first ever redfish on the way back in,” said Capt. Chris Barlow, “and then wanted to keep fishing for another hour hoping to get a second fish
68 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2019 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net
Celebrities and Kidz Outdoors Crew come out to support Joes & Pros Trout Championship