Joe and Demetria Westbrook win KingKat’s Sweet Sixteen
by Ron Presley
A Sweet Sixteen bracket-style format resulted in 4 undefeated teams for the shootout on Championship Saturday.
In a gesture to reward teams that had been loyal to their trail in 2022, KingKat conducted a bracket-style tournament out of Palmetto Shores RV Resort on the banks of Lake Marion. Top teams in the 2022 KingKat Points Race were invited to compete in a three-day tournament that would crown a Sweet Sixteen Champion.
In the final analysis, 11 teams competed. After 2 days of competition, 4 teams remained to shoot it out on day 3 with all weights set back to zero. Competing for the Championship on January 28, 2023, were Team Mitchell, Team Westbrook, Team Morris, and Team Shirey. All other teams were competing for 5th place and a $2,500 sponsorship.
First Place – $8,000 and Big Fish – $2,000 – $2,500 KingKat Sponsorship
Consistency was the key for Team Westbrook. Joe and Demetria qualified for the Final Four by beating Team Smith on day one and Team Lawrence on day two.
Solid bags of 112.60 pounds on day 2 and 94.57 pounds on the final day kept them in the winner’s brackets and carried them to the KingKat Sweet Sixteen Championship title. Joe and Demetria’s day 2 bag included Big Fish of the tournament at 54.31 pounds. They also won 1 of the 2 KingKat Sponsorships that were awarded.
Due to the size of the lakes and in the interest of fishing time, they developed a strategy during prefishing that centered on a small area. Then they kept a watch on the weather.
“We kept an eye on the forecasted weather for the three-day tournament,” reported Demetria. “We knew where we had to fish and because of the wind we picked a small area and that’s where we focused.”
Bait was scarce all week for Team Westbrook, so they tried a variety of different baits each day.
“We tried different cuts of shad, different cuts of mullet, and even shrimp,” Demetria said. “We hoped we would find something they wanted. Each day the fish had a different preference and we adjusted accordingly.”
Joe and Demetria prefer to fish shallow. They were pleased to find a pattern in 1 to 10 feet of water that held up during the tournament.
“It was surprising to have the shallow water bite continue the last two days,” confirmed Demetria. “It was unexpected because the water levels were dropping and we had cold overnight lows. Nevertheless, we caught all our fish in 10 feet of water or less all three days.”
When it comes to methods of fishing Team Westbrook prefers to drift but conditions dictated otherwise. They never caught as many fish drifting so they changed to anchoring.
“We anchored all three days,” continued Demetria. “The longest anchor was about 45 minutes. We had to grind and move frequently to catch our fish. It was definitely a workout dropping the anchor an average of 15 times each day.”
“The first day of the tournament was our worst,” summarized Demetria. “We battled the wind most of the day and never could locate the fish we needed. Nevertheless, we were able to beat our opponents and move on to the winner’s bracket.”
“The second day was our best. The wind had settled down so we were able to fish in a different area and found the fish we needed quickly. We weighed 112.60 pounds in three fish and had a big fish that weighed 54.31 pounds on Big Fish Friday.”
“The last day we weighed 94.57 pounds in three fish to win first place overall and the $2,500 sponsorship. No one was more surprised than we were.”
“What an amazing week and a half Joe and I had fishing Santee Cooper,” “We enjoyed free top-notch lodging, free food that was fit for a king, fishing on a new body of water, catching up with old friends, and meeting new friends! Joe and I stated multiple times on our way there that we were already winners just by being able to fish the KingKat Sweet Sixteen.”
“The bracket-style format made it possible for everyone to fish for multiple prizes,” explained Demetria. “They included Big Fish on Friday for $2000, a $2,500 sponsorship to the champions, and another $2,500 sponsorship for the highest two-day total weight in the consolation bracket. Plus, the event paid first through five places. Wow!”
“It was an amazing tournament from start to finish,” concluded Demetria. “We are so thankful that we were a part of the inaugural KingKat Sweet Sixteen! Like always we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He provides our health, wealth, and wisdom that we need to fish tournaments.”
Second Place – $6,000
The runner-up spot went to Carl Morris Jr and Sean Martin. Carl and Sean defeated Team Shirey on day one and Team Barner on day two to earn their spot in the Final Four.
It was a challenging week for Morris and Martin. Their home base is Ohio where part of their work includes snow removal. Before the tournament, Mother Nature brought back-to-back snowstorms to Ohio.
“We provide snow removal services for more than 175 sites,” stated Morris. “On our way down to the tournament back-to-back snow storms came in leading us to work 48 hours straight. Sean (Martin) stayed in Ohio and I worked from the cabin.”
“All that made for a rough start,” joked Morris. “The delay took away from our pre-fishing time and the wind made it challenging to scan and look for fish.”
Given the weather forecast and expected winds, Team Morris knew they would have to switch strategies from what they like to do and do best which is drifting.
“We have always drifted when we fished lake Moultrie,” recalled Morris. “But this week was different. We concentrated or anchoring or spot-locking over the tops of ledges that had some timber on them in 17 to 22 feet of water. We were catching 15- to 25-pound fish off of several of the ledges with occasional 30-pounder here and there.”
Carl and Sean were using gizzard shad for bait and caught most of their fish on one particular cut, saying, “They seemed to be real picky those last few days.”
“Our fish had moved on us for the Saturday competition,” reported Morris. “We tried to chase them down but just couldn’t get the bigger bite we needed on the final day. We caught 4 fish for the day.”
Congrats to Joe and Demetria on a great finish in some tough conditions,” concluded Morris. “Hats off to them. We would also like to thank KingKat and the tournament staff for a great week. It was one of the best tournaments I have been a part of and I have fished a lot of different ones over the years. It was a very enjoyable week!”
Third Place – $4,000
Team Shirey (Craig Shirey, Jimmy Wesney, Ella Shirey) earned their spot in the Final Four by way of a random drawing from the secondary bracket. This spot is what KingKat refers to as the Redemption Team. One team from the consolation bracket was drawn after day 2 to fill the Final Four bracket and they were the lucky team.
On the first day, they fished a deep hole where they had done well before. A big weather front came through the evening before and changed everything.
“The wind was 20 plus from start to finish,” recalled Craig. “With that said the fishing was tough. We got all our bites from 7:30 to 8:30 am. It made for a very long, slow day.”
The second day was almost identical to the first for Team Shirey. The only exception was that the fish they caught were a little bigger but still not big enough to win. Then at the Captain’s Meeting, they got lucky and gained the redemption spot for Championship Saturday. The weather was predicted to be better and they had hope for a good day.
“We anchored the first two days and after not getting a bite sat morning we started trolling,” said Craig. “Going into the last day I thought for sure the fishing would be the best yet. Sadly I was wrong. We did manage a few fish but they were all small. Overall we were happy to finish in 3rd place.”
“This was the first time we fished this style of tournament and we loved it,” concluded Craig. “It brought a whole new way of thinking and developing a strategy to tournament fishing. After tournament week was over we really felt appreciated by KingKat. They really went above and beyond to thank us. You would have to be crazy not to check them out if you are into catfishing tournaments!”
Fourth Place – $2,000
Mike Mitchell and his son Jackson Mitchell made an 8-hour drive from their home in Alabama to fish Santee Cooper for the first time. They gained their spot in the Final Four by coming out on top over Team McAnally on Day 2 after receiving one of three byes on day one.
Team Mitchell found some fish in shallow water in practice but the cold front changed that.
“The weather was definitely a game changer all week,” indicated Mike. “Even during our pre-fishing, it was either rainy with wind or cold front conditions. We found some fish in 10 feet of water, but weren’t able to locate those fish after the cold front moved in during the event.”
Team Mitchel used mostly American shad as they searched out the edges of underwater islands and creek channels to set up on and fish. They reported catching most of their fish in deeper water that ranged from 25 to 35 feet deep.
“We found most of our success spot-locking and fan-casting,” reported Mike. “We used medium size chunks of bait.”
“Overall I feel like the tournament was a huge success,” concluded Mike. “The bracket-style format was new and refreshing! I appreciate King Kat for all they have done to bring us a trail that supports its anglers and gives back so much. Thanks so much to my sponsors and family. I couldn’t do this without them!”
Team Mitchell’s sponsors are Boss Kat Hooks, Big Cat Fever, Monster Rod Holders, Slime Line, River Rats Reel Repair, Foley Spoons, and Dry Creek Marine.
KingKat Sponsorship Awards and Fifth Place
Other prizes up for grabs at Palmetto Shores RV Resort on Championship Saturday were one of two KingKat $2,500 Sponsorships and a 5th place check. The sponsorship awards were given on top of any other prizes that anglers could receive.
“Two Sponsorship Awards will be presented following the tournament,” explained Trevor Justice, KingKat’s Social Media Director. “First, the overall champion will receive a $2,500 sponsorship in addition to the $8,000 first-place check. Second, the heaviest combined weight from the consolation bracket will receive a $2,500 Sponsorship. The recipients can then choose to fish any tournament of their choice and be reimbursed up to $2,500 toward the cost of participating in the tournament.”
Joe and Demetria Westbrook received the first sponsorship as winners of the tournament and Theron Heinrich and Edward Dalton received the second sponsorship for the heaviest combined weight from the consolation bracket. Heinrich and Dalton struggled with boat problems during the tournament but still managed a 5th-place finish and earned a check for $2,000 in addition to the sponsorship.
Final Thoughts
The bracket-style fishing was new to catfish tournaments and well accepted by the participating anglers. Some anglers thought it was more stressful and others thought it was less stressful. It’s all in how you look at it.
Team Westbrook said of the bracket-style tournament, “We absolutely love the bracket-style tournaments. It really took the pressure off since you only had to beat 1 team. We were able to relax (just a little bit) since you weren’t competing against the entire field. And the opportunity to win multiple prizes was really icing on the cake.”
Team Morris said, “The bracket tournament format was unique and overall a very enjoyable experience for both of us. I like how everyone was kept involved until the very end with sponsored money and the Big Fish prize. It was a good change of pace from your typical catfish tournament. We would definitely fish another.”
“I like the brackets,” said Alabama angler Mike Mitchell. “It was a blast! It did add a new kind of stress but it was the most fun of any event I’ve fished to date!”
