Swampadelic Catfish Tournament with music

| July 14, 2014 | Reply
Jo-El Sonnier

Jo-El Sonnier

Catfish caught by any legal means and brought in live before 6 p.m. Saturday (July 12) were weighed in and  qualified in the first ever Swampadelic Catfish Tournament, held at Southern Junction Nightclub & Steakhouse between Rockwall and Royse City. There were a total of 44 teams who signed up, many of course who didn’t show up, supposedly for not having caught a fish they felt would quality.

The winning fish, adult division, came from Team Texas members Dakota McBride and Kyle Phillips, and weighed in at 61.14 pounds. These two young men took home $5,000 in prize money. In Second place were Katie and Brian Larey, whose prize weighed only .03 pounds less, or 61.11 pounds total and they took home a $3,000 check. Their niece, Sydney Larey, won first prize in the kids division, with second place won by Team Adrenaline, consisting of three youngsters, with the young girl, nearly too small to hold their prize, saying she actually caught it.

For photos of the contestants weighing their catches in and of the top-3 winners in each category (adult and kids), click here  At the end of the

First place — $5,000 — winners Dakota McBride and Kyle Phillips

First place — $5,000 — winners Dakota McBride and Kyle Phillips

day, organizer Big Gus Samuelson presented a check for $25,000 to the Trinity River Audobon Center’s board of directors, as the beneficiary of the day’s activities.

For photos of the noodlin’ art of fishing, click here

There were numerous sponsors, including the Bare Knuckle Babes, and booths set up around the SoJo parking lot. Temperatures up around the century mark were expected, and the venue offered iced-down water and sports drinks for sale at reasonable prices. For such a nominal fee ($5), people could eat a fresh-fried catfish dinner.

Meanwhile, for three hours, the acoustic music band Texas True (Sponsored by Bluegrass Heritage Foundation) played underneath a canopy, Philip and June Ferson on guitar and bass, and Robert Paul and his son, Braeden Paul on mandolin, slide guitar, banjo, and everyone on vocals. That night, the celebrated Jo-El Sonnier played inside on the Southern Junction stage. Big Gus & Swampadelic took a few tunes with Jo-El sitting in with them. And, lastly, Big in Vegas capped out the day’s music, some of them line-dancing on stage as the crowd line-danced to their music.

For photos of the bands, click here.  (There will be more photos in a separate folder soon)

And the last photo album is just pix of great times being had. Click here

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In the music production business, including event production, booking, photography, reporting, and other such essentials, since 1980.

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