72ND DEEP SEA ROUNDUP
Texas 'Big Daddy' of tourneys starts today

Hundreds of anglers will be in Port Aransas this weekend for the storied Deep Sea Roundup.

The 72nd installment of the oldest and largest saltwater fishing tournament on the Texas Gulf coast is scheduled for today, Thursday, July 5, through Sunday, July 8. It is sponsored by the Port Aransas Boatmen, Inc., and proceeds fund various youth-related activities and scholarships.

The tournament covers all ages and interests by including a Piggy Perch Contest for the small fry, as well as junior and adult divisions for bay and offshore anglers.

The event begins at 2 p.m. today with registration at the Civic Center on the corner of Cut-off Road and Avenue A. Cocktails will be served starting at 6 p.m., followed by hors d'oeuvres at 7 p.m. The center closes at 10 p.m.

Late registration will follow at 6 a.m. tomorrow at Woody's Sports Center, 136 W. Cotter St.

The fishing competition begins at 6 a.m. with bay-surf and fly-fishing divisions. Offshore anglers can wet their lines at 7 a.m.

The Piggy Perch Contest will be headquartered at the Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion at Roberts Point Park. Fishing in the 5 and under division starts at 9 a.m., followed by the 6 and up division at "9:30ish" a.m.

Bay-surf anglers must have their lines out of the water by 2 p.m. and catches weighed in by the 4 p.m. deadline.

Offshore anglers should reel in their lines at 4 p.m. and have their catches at the weigh station by 7 p.m.

Weigh in for all divisions is at the Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion at Roberts Point Park.

Spectators are invited to gather under the shade of the pavilion to watch the weigh ins on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Refreshments will be sold on site.

Contestants will gather for dinner to the "tropicoustical" tunes of Triggerfish at the Civic Center from 7 to 10 p.m.

The fishing resumes on the same schedule Saturday. After a dinner that starts at 7 p.m., a dance open to the public with music by Tumble-Dry- Low will be held.

A fish fry open to the public will be held at the Civic Center starting at noon on Sunday. The awards presentation and raffle drawings will start at 1 p.m.

Grand champions in both the bay/surf and offshore divisions will be awarded. Until four years ago, a single overall grand champion was named, and that was almost without exception won by offshore anglers, although a bay/surf division champion and runner-up also were named.

The tournament will continue the release format initiated in 2001 for all billfish.

A bay-surf perpetual trophy will be awarded as well as a perpetual Billfish Champion trophy. Other awards presented will be Top Woman Angler and Top Junior Angler as well as individual species awards.

Tournament chairman is Mike Firestone.

Programs for the Roundup, which contain a complete schedule, rules and more, are inserted in the in-town editions of this edition of the South Jetty.

The tournament started in 1932, in the days when tarpon were as plentiful as hardheads, as the Tarpon Rodeo. It took a break for World War II and, as the tarpon declined courtesy of dynamiting schools of the fish in Mexican Gulf waters, the name was changed to the Deep Sea Roundup.