They look toward weighmaster Bruce Cheves, who while taking his duties seriously, has the difficult task of entertaining the crowd. To the right of the weighmaster are two people who have volunteered to be fish judges for the day. Judges must collect a variety of information about the catch, which will all be entered into a computer. This is done for each captured fish that exceeds the previous best weight for that species. The weight of the fish and the time the weight is recorded are called out over Cheves' public address system.
Cheves says the pre-requisite for telling a good fish story is telling a good lie.
He should know. He's been on and around fishing boats for the past 20 years and he's been serving as official rodeo weighmaster for the past decade. For some, Cheves is the rodeo. The weighmaster wants fishing records to be broken, but he says if you ever catch a big one, it may well be the last one you'll ever want to catch. Your arms will feel like dead lead for days after wrangling a winning king mackerel aboard the boat.