ORANGE, Texas — The Texas Academy at Lamar University is holding "Fish 'N Fest," which includes a fishing tournament as well as a festival in Orange.
The "Fish 'N Fest" is the largest fundraiser of the year for the program which is an accelerated program for high school students on the Lamar University campus.
The Texas Academy is made up of 11th and 12th grade students who live on-campus and take classes along with other Lamar undergrads while also completing high school.
The fishing tournament starts at 5 a.m. Saturday at the City of Orange Pavilion and Boat Ramp. If you don't feel like getting up early to fish in the tournament you can sleep in and hit the festival that starts at the same spot at noon.
Some of the activities at festival will include carnival games. concessions, costume contest, pumpkin decorating and a photo booth.
The cash prizes for the tournament are...
- 1st: $2,500
- 2nd: $1,750
- 3rd: $1,000
There's also some optional side-pot opportunities for the fishing tournament and registered teams can buy in to up to two side pots at registration.
- Team side pots - $50 buy-in per team, per category
- Redfish - Most Spots (touching spots equal 1)
- Redfish - Heaviest Single (under 28in)
- Bass - Heaviest Single (over 14in)
In the event of a tie on any side pot, the tie will be broken by earliest weigh-in time.
Payout for each side pot category:
- Redfish: Most Spots - $150 (first only)
- Redfish: Heaviest Single - $200 (first only)
- Bass: Heaviest Single - $250 (first only)
Weigh-in stringer:
- Redfish - maximum of three (3) fish
- Bass - maximum of five (5) fish
Redfish "Most Spots" side and heaviest redfish are not required to be part of the three (3) fish tournament stringer.
Heaviest bass are not required to be part of the five (5) fish tournament stringer.
Schedule of Events
- 5 a.m. - Boat checks of aerated live wells
- 5:30 a.m. - Dock departure; time is tentative and could change to ensure safe light for all participants to launch in a safe and orderly manner
- 6:30 a.m. - Battle of the anglers begins
- 2:00 p.m. - Weigh-in starts
- 4:00 p.m. - Weigh-in closes; all participants must return to the dock and submit their catches for weigh-in
The awards ceremony will take place after the weigh-in is completed, with the top anglers being recognized for their efforts.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
