by Ron Presley
Ole Sad Daddy four weeks in a row
B’n’M Poles’ Jeff “Big Daddy” Dodd is known for calling his big cats “Ole Sad Daddy.” He credits a complete stranger for the name.
“We was up there at Clarksville,” recalled Dodd. “I didn’t have what I call a big fish, maybe about a 40 pounder. This old man came by the boat and looked. He said, ‘Man I think you got Ole Sad Daddy.’ The name just stuck.”
Most cat men and women know exactly what an Ole Sad Daddy is and a quick look at some recent history reveals a significant number of Ole Sad Daddys coming to the boat for some member of the Dodd clan.
August 24 – 25, 2018 – Cabela’s King Kat Tournament, Paducah KY
Thirty-seven teams registered for the Ohio River event. All the teams were hoping to win a piece of the $11,000 that would be distributed. While another B’n’M Poles team of Scott and Emily Cress claimed top honors with a two-day weight of 219.83 pounds. Jeff Dodd did exactly what he does so often.
Big Daddy was fishing his first tournament out of his new Excel StormCat 230. He and his son-in-law, Cedric Poyner, were using a new prototype B’n’M Bumping Rod.
When the tournament was complete and all the weights were tallied, Poyner and Dodd had claimed the Big Kat title with a monster 64.15-pound blue catfish. Big Daddy caught the fish on day one and the weight held through both days of the tournament to give the Trenton, TN team braggin’ rights and another Ole Sad Daddy for the family clan.
September 1, 2018 – Excel Boats Warm Up Event
Fifty-eight boats competed in the Excel Boats Warm Up Event. They were getting ready for the Mississippi River Monsters tournament that followed one week later. Teams fished the Big Muddy out of Memphis, TN. Competing anglers launched and returned after fishing to the Mud Island boat ramp.
Boat number 30 was Big Daddy’s brother Randy Dodd and Jeff’s son-in-law, Cedric Poyner, who had fished with Big Daddy the week before. This time it was Randy’s turn to catch the big one. The team won the Warm Up Event with 105.35 pounds that included the big fish at 53 pounds.
Chalk up another Ole Sad Daddy for the Dodd clan.
September 8, 2018 – Mississippi River Monsters
Cedric Poynor and Randy Dodd teamed up again for the Mississippi River Monsters tournament. They joined 152 other teams to represent the Dodd clan in the third year of the popular event. Odds were not high that Cedric or Randy would catch Big Fish again.
It is now recorded history that Randy and Cedric claimed the runner-up spot with only four fish. But those four catfish weighed 130.27 pounds. Their weight included the Big Fish of the tournament at 81.83 pounds. Interestingly enough, Randy caught the big fish within 100 feet of where Cedric caught the 53-pound fish in the Excel Boats Warm Up Event just one week earlier.
Add one more Ole Sad Daddy to the scoreboard for the Dodd clan. That made three weeks in a row.
September 14 – 15, 2018 – Cabela’s King Kat at Jeffersonville, IN
Sixty-six teams from 15 states gathered at Jeffersonville, IN for Cabela’s 2018 King Kat Classic. One of those teams was Jeff “Big Daddy” Dodd and Roy Harkness. The Ohio River was running high and wild, and it played right into Dodd’s and Harkness’s hands.
The B’n’M team was setting in ninth place after day one. They made a move toward the top of the leader board on day two by finding what they considered “fishable water.”
“The high water kinda’ played to our game,” offered Dodd. “That is the kind of water we fish all the time back home. The trash was a little bad and there was some 5 to 6 mph current. We just fished it like it was the Mississippi River.”
“Jeff told me to work on the unders,” said Harkness. “He said he would get the other one. When he tells me that it’s time to leave him to his game and let him fish.”
“If you target that big one and stay after it you might get it,” concluded Dodd. “I tell Roy, ‘Now don’t mess with me. I am in the zone over here.’”
When the day was done B’n’M’s Dodd and Harkness had claimed the third-place spot with a two-day total of 213.00 pounds and Big Kat of the tournament at 71.30 pounds.
With that performance the Dodd clan had posted the big fish of the tournament in four consecutive weeks of tournament fishing.
Moral of the Story
I guess the moral of the story is that if you want to put a big fish in the boat just choose the right boat. Maybe one that is captained by a member of the Dodd clan!
