The DETX high school fishing series held its sixth qualifier of the season at Jackson Hill Marina on March 18th. The tournament also helped to raise money and awareness for Camp Gold Star a program to help Military families in trauma recovery and hospice care based at Jackson Hill Marina and part of their Outdoor Freedom Network charity.
The event was won by Jace Lindsey from Beckville, Texas located just North of Carthage. Jace was fishing alone in his first Deep East Texas tournament.
The day was very tough with the majority of teams weighing in single digit sacks. Flipping weightless Senkos or Texas rigged plastics in 2-6 feet of water produced quite a few fish, however the bigger fish seemed to have moved out in post spawn patterns leaving anglers with a lot of smaller fish to cull through before their final cast on an otherwise beautiful spring day.
Jace Lindsey from BHS Fishing managed to catch 14.31 lbs including a 4.60 lb kicker to help seal the win. Second and third place went to Garrison high school with strong performances by Dawson Dean and Conner Moore who landed 13.49 lbs and Logan Stanaland and Gaven Duke with 13.10 lbs.
The weigh in featured a tribute to our Texas Fallen in the War on Terror. On hand to speak to all in attendance was Carson George a Gold Star Father who lost his son while serving his Country in Afghanistan, Roy James from Texas Honor and Remember, and Gordon Melton founder of Hunting with Soldiers--himself a disabled Veteran who has dedicated his life to providing outdoor experiences to Combat wounded Veterans and Gold Star children.
The highlight for many was when 12 year old Cheyenne Mewborn who sold the winning ticket for a custom rod and Abu Garcia MGXtreme reel valued at $1,000 donated her identical rod and reel back to The Texas Fallen Heroes Memorial Campaign.
Cheyenne is a member of the Broaddus High School Fishing Team and a young Patriot who thought that it was the right thing to do. When asked by her Dad what moved her to do something so generous she answered "Dad they died for us that is the least I can do. I will never be able to repay them for giving their lives."
Camp Gold Star is a program of Outdoor Freedom Network a public charity founded by Terry and Connie Sympson of Jackson Hill Marina that operate many fishing related programs and events including the Patriots Challenge Fishing Tournament Series to help raise money to host military members past and present. All profit made at these weekend series tournaments directly benefit military members, their families and other worthy causes in the Sam Rayburn lake area.
For more information about programs and events go to www.outdoorfreedom.net or call Terry Sympson at 936-872-9266. OFN is the recipient of the 2015 American Legions National Award for "Enhancing the lives of the Disabled