SPECIAL FOR A REASON

Connie Dyson was serious, but all smiles as she passed along her own eye-opening experience several years back.“The girls were planning a 50^th anniversary get together for some dear friends and as usual I had already taken the bull by the horns before we even met,” she recalled in great detail.

“I had conservatively estimated the number of friends and relatives that would attend, reserved a meeting place and ordered five hundred pounds of crawfish in advance.Several of us had already agreed to the proposed date and I knew that would save us time for visiting.”

Much to her surprise and dismay, however, those plans were dashed even before they had poured the first cup of coffee.“If we do it that Saturday we’re going to have to eat a lot of crawfish,” said her sister-in-law.“You know we won’t have a male in the family show up that weekend,” she announced as if that fact were a given.”

“We changed that date without further discussion,” said Connie.

John Thomas made my wife’s day the year they decided to host their event the same weekend every year,” said Mark Story.“Between All Star baseball games and my reserving that weekend regardless of what else was going on, she had hell planning vacations!”

That coveted and obviously well-respected weekend is reserved without any further discussion for the annual OCARC fishing tournament.This is far more than a fishing tournament…it is a family oriented celebration!

This Saturday marks the 31^st consecutive edition and you are obviously doing something right to survive three decades.The prize money and modest entry fees have changed very little over the years so what makes it so special?

We are blessed to have a resource like the surrounding bayous, rivers and Sabine Lake to exploit, but this is more about support for a vital and much needed organization that asks for nothing more than community participation.The Center is home to a group of special citizens that take great pride in being productive and making their own way.

Entry fees and sponsorships are the lifeblood of this celebrated weekend, but monies raised have nothing to do with the joy of interacting with the community in a fun filled environment for these folks.The OCARC owns this weekend in Orange, Texas and they look forward to shaking your hand and welcoming you with a hug Saturday afternoon!

For more information call 409-886-1363.

As predicted, the ten pound mark was finally topped by Steven Havard and Ronnie Robinson in last week’s SETX tournament.After getting a late start due to the minor convenience of working late, they quickly put together a 10. 64 pound two fish catch in the first half hour.

Their red was a very solid 8.73 pound specimen.Their catch proved to be worth a little over $110 a pound!

Bubba Sparrow and Brandon Kinchen took a totally different approach in winning the second place money.They caught both of their fish in the last thirty minutes to earn $400.The really neat thing about the two fish format is that it doesn’t take long to make up for a tough day.

Topping the ten pound mark has been especially hard due to the still difficult trout bite.A three pound trout is a bragging size fish right now!

Louis Moore says it’s still not too late to get your ticket for the Orange CCA Chapter banquet on August 9^th .The banquet and auctions kick off at 6:00 pm at the Convention and Expo Center on Hwy. 1442.

After an extended run of hot dry weather Tuesday’s down pour should have very little negative effect on the fish catching in Sabine Lake.It may slow down the redfish schooling a little, but the more consistent bite has been taking place along the shoreline and revetment walls.

We are still catching just enough fish to keep us interested, but solid trout have still been a no-show.The best catches I have seen in the past two weeks were taken on shad and finger mullet.The bite was very shallow which is a little unusual for live bait fishermen.

We have been finding smaller trout mixed in with lady fish drifting plastics under a cork, but the gafftop continue to crash the party.If you are just looking for a bite and don’t mind the slime, they will stretch your line!