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OutdoorsTHE BAAZOSPOftT FACTS Thursday, August 11,1994 38Swansey, Shepard among long list of winners at new annual tourneyJESS£ MILLER/Dm Fact*Dos Rios Open volunteers John Harlen, left, and David Sanderson toss fresh fish in cornmeal during the big fish fry Saturday that capped the first annual tournament.By JESSE MILLERThe Brazosport FactsLiz Swansey and David Shepard were the big winners in their respective divisions of the 1st annual Dos Rios Open Fishing Tournament over the weekend.Swansey won the king mackerel and red snapper categories in the offshore division, taking home anice trophy and nearly $500 cash.Her winning king tipped the Dos Rios scales at 26.74 pounds, considerably better than the second place king brought in by Mathew Baumgart. His king went 14.98 pounds, just ounces better than Bob Pratt’s 14.64.Swansey’s 9.32 red snapper was about three pounds larger than the second place snapper and took top money in that category.Jimmy Zachary brought in the second-place snapper at 6.40 and Tony Anderson took third with a 3.52 pound fish.For awhile it looked like the offshore board would end up with an empty category - ling. Fishermen have been scoring on ling, including a lot of big ones, since before the Freeport Jaycees Fishin* Fiesta, but that wasn't the case last weekend.It became apparent early-on during the day Saturday that the ling were making themselves scarce. Several offshore boats returned from offshore, reporting that they had not seen even the first ling.Swansey and her husband, Mike, have been into the ling for most of the summer and when they came in early afternoon without a ling, it looked bleak indeed for that category.Shortly before weigh-in, however. Chuck Cadenhead and the crew on Mickey Lester’s boat, came to the scales with a nice, 24.64 ling to sweep all the places and a $350 cash prize.Shepard weighed in a 7.82 pound redfish early Saturday and sweated it out until the scales closed at 6 p.m. at the tournament headquarters - the Freeport Jay cees Burnett Hall.Chuck Cadenhead, standing, displays the David Shepard, Steve Efird and Scott Self, trophy he got for weighing in the only ling of Liz Swansey, not pictured, was the biggest the Dos Rios Open Saturday. Other tourna- winner in the new annual tournament with ment winners, seated, from left, included the top king mackerel and red snapper.Shepard’s winning red was good for almost $400 cash,Randy Harrison had a 7.40 red on the board when Shepard brought his fish in and it held up for second place. Ray McGaughey finished less than an ounce back in third place with a nice 7.34 pound fish.Steve Efird had the top speckled trout of the tournament, a 4.04 pound entry that was pushed by Bubba Alexander’s 3.88 entry. Edgar Floyd took third with his 2.76.Scott Self was the big winner in the flounder category with his 2.76 pound entry. Veteran angler Reece Murray, one of the Lake Jackson Whaler bunch, was second, three ounces b'aek and Larry Thompson of the Mudslingers team took third with a 2.18.‘The fishing was down, especially when you consider the great weather we had,” said Ricky Day, tournament director, “The gulf was as flat as a table and some of the offshore people said that might have hurt the fishing morethan it helped.“But we had 65 people turn out for the tournament, which we feel like was very good for the first time,” he said. “We didn’t quite make expenses but it was real close and we’re really looking forward to next year.“Everyone I talked to about the tournament was really excited. They all left Saturday night, full of fish from the fish fry and talking about how much bigger it is going to be next year.“We had a good crowd at Friday’s barbecue and captain’s meeting and again at the fish fry. We sold out of T-shirts early Friday night and we had plenty of food for everyone that came out to eat,” Day said.“I had several people tell me we can expect a huge increase next year after this year’s crowd gets through spreading the word around. If everyone entered this year would bring one more person next year, it would really be great.”
Newspaper Details
Brazosport Facts
Clute, Texas, US
Thu, Aug 11, 1994
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Grace S.
TX, USA 16 Jul 2020
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