Kids Fishing Tournament Sets Record by Mary Jo Walker : Dolphin Talk

Kids Fishing Tournament Sets Record by Mary Jo Walker

Archived in the category: Fishing Reports, General Info

Posted by Joyce Rhyne on 20 Jun 13 - 0 Comments

Record Number “Take A Kid Fishing” at the Port O’Connor Chamber’s Kids Fishing Tournament

The Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce Annual Kids Fishing Tournament was a record setter this year! Thanks to all the folks who brought the kids fishing this Memorial Day at King Fisher Beach. We all had so much fun!

It was a very windy day indeed, but this did not put a damper on any spirits. They all came excited and ready to wet a line, to take home one of the trophies. Since we want to keep it simple for everyone we have no pre-registration. You register upon arrival – so we have NO idea how many participants we will have. We base it off of the previous years entries, which usually are around 50. This year caught us way off guard! We had 85 entrants, mostly all fishing from the pier. A few did wander down the beach shoreline. Through my years of being in charge of this tournament (about 15), I have tried to make sure all participants receive something. As we know, they will not all get a trophy, so, needless to say, we were scrambling for 35 more goodie bags for these little fisherkids. Everyone was extremely kind and patient with us and we greatly appreciate that. This really sets good examples for the children when they see their parents being kind in such situations.

Eighty-five participants, ages 3 through 12, landed a total of 106 fish which were brought to be measured. The biggest was a 32 inch stingray, the first time stingrays have been caught in this tournament. Many different species were caught – many perch, several hardheads, a few reds, some whiting, one dogfish, and three stingrays. A HUGE thanks to my son, Doug Walker Jr., for helping me out, especially for measuring the stingrays; to Ann Brownlee, Patti Elkins, Bernice Shell and Terry Shell for helping me with getting this all set up and flowing smoothly, and to Freda Howard and Terry Shell for taking photos as well.

We had multiple winners in a few of the divisions. Trophies have been ordered and will be sent to the winners who did not receive theirs at the tournament.

Two things that we learned: You DO NOT have to have a boat to catch fish; and you can still catch ‘em even if the wind is blowing!