'Large' Fishing for Memories Rodeo held in Intracoastal City

“Large” may be the best word to describe the 2014 Fishing for Memories Rodeo held this past weekend in Intracoastal City.
• There was a large crowd of fishermen and people who attended the three-day event. A total of 575 fishermen fished, which is almost twice as many as when the tournament started six years ago.
• Because of the large amount of fishermen, Holly Boffy, co-founder of the tournament, is predicting a large amount of money was raised that will benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. The total amount of money raised will not be available for a few days, after the bills are paid.
• The auction items raised $31,000.
• Large fish caused four rodeo records to fall in 2014.
In the adult division:
Zack Lissard shattered the cobia record by hauling in a 59.20 pound cobia. The old record was 53 pounds.
Danna Pullin broke the king mackerel record by a pound. Her record-fish weighed 49.95 pounds.
A new category this year is “Lagniappe.” It is a fish that is not under a category like grouper, wahoo or snapper.
Winning the Yellow Fin Tuna category for is David Coburn, with a 113 pound yellow fin tuna. He also set a rodeo record.
Shawn Dugas caught the biggest fish in the rodeo. He pulled in a 116.12 pound grouper, which also won the grouper category and set a new record.
Dugas was fishing on board the boat “Perseverance.” Perseverance won the best offshore boat award for the second year in a row.
Perseverance fished 145 miles off shore in 800 feet of water.
Dugas caught three sharks before hooking the large grouper.
“I did not know what it was until about halfway up,” said Dugas. “It took about 35 minutes to bring it up.”
The Perseverance also had a first and second in the Mahi-Mahi category, along with a third place in the Grouper category.
Fishing on the Perseverance were Dugas, Scott Butaud, Darius Girouard, Shane Roach, Trent Frith and Ryan Stokes.