Big Gus Catfish Tournament — “Take them kids fishin'”

| June 29, 2015 | Reply
Charles Houk

Charles Houk

Big Gus Samuelson (of the bands Swampadelic and Sinner Man) and Charles Houk (of Southern Junction Nightclub & Steakhouse), and the Bare Knuckle Babes brought together the second Swampadelic Catfish Tournament, held Saturday, June 27, at the incredible SoJo. This year, the receiving beneficiary of income-over-expenses money was the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center.

Providing music were: (outdoors in the afternoon) Beaumont; and (indoors in the evening) Jeff Hopson & The Heretics, Jerrod Medulla band, and the Jeff Allen band. (Sorry, but after a day of it, this ol’ crip had to leave before the last two bands came on stage.)

Everything was outside in the parking lot, except bathroom and meals before the catfish fry dinner, were inside SoJo. Crafts booths, a great bounce house with a slide attached, custom-built motorcycles, and numerous other fun stuff there for everybody, all while Beaumont played between catfish weigh-ins. (The members of Beaumont had to be the best sports of all — graciously stopping and starting as often as they did) Then, at 7 p.m., before the SoJo dancers had finished their great dinners, Jeff Hopson and his friends, aka band, kicked the music off inside.

Crowd 3 bounce houseThere were two divisions: youth and adult. Prizes were given for the top-weighing catfish caught “by any legal means.” After the 6 p.m., cut-off for weigh-ins, Gus handed out some super-sized checks to the winners. The first-place fish weighed more than 62 pounds — think about it, that’s more than three 10-pound bowling balls and a little bit less than the weight I’ve lost in the past three years! I’m not carrying those bowling balls around any more!)

Charles, his ace-in-the-hole SoJo sidekick Elizabeth, Gus, Tracy, Jacob, and scads more volunteers made it all into an incredible day.

And, while still applying sun-rescue cream, everyone is already planning the 2016 catfish tournament. We’ll let you know when, it’s for sure the ‘where’ will again be Southern Junction in between Royse City and Rockwall.

Photos of many of the fish caught and entered

Photos of Beaumont and of Jeff Hopson & the Heretics

Crowd, vendor, and lots of other photos

 

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Category: *- Features, Southern Junction

About the Author ()

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

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