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The big one caught at Fishin' Fiesta
Published July 3, 2008
FREEPORT — When Ronnie Meredith of Clute pulled up to the Fishin’ Fiesta weigh station Wednesday evening at Freeport Municipal Park, a crowd soon gathered to watch his catch max out the scale.
Meredith, fishing with Dr. Richard Fugler and Mark Malfa, fought an 11-foot tiger shark for more than two hours on the first day of the tournament nearly 25 miles offshore.
“I didn’t have any idea that it was going to be that big a tiger shark,” Meredith said. “We made a few attempts to get him on the fly gaf but had a lot of trouble. It took a while, but we finally got him.
“It’s the biggest shark I’ve ever caught,” he said.
After the battle, the group had to tow the fish alongside the boat the rest of the way inland before hauling it to the park to register the catch. When they arrived at the weigh station, the shark was so big it maxed the scale at 535 pounds with its fins still dragging the ground.
Event organizers had to call in technicians to calibrate the scale before the shark’s full weight finally was known.
Hours later, the shark weighed in at a new tournament record 560.6 pounds, breaking the old mark of 558.2 pounds.
Meredith’s catch was just one of the many stories to come out of the first day of the Freeport Host Lions Club Fishin’ Fiesta’s 61st tournament. Event chairman Ron Martin said this season there have been a slew of sign-ups and he expects the final tally to far exceed last year’s number.
“It’s a great start to this year.” Martin said. “We’ve had a lot of interest and a lot more fisherman registering. The prize money increased and we’re polygraphing the winners — that adds instant credibility to the tournament.”
Winners in all categories will undergo a polygraph test following the tournament on Sunday before claiming their prizes. Martin said he’s sure at least one former winner has cheated and says criminal charges might be filed.
“I have got tons of people saying, ‘That’s why we’re fishing,’” Martin said. “They know people who have cheated in the past who have caught fish even before they have entered and who have kept fish alive inside of their bait wells. All of that has happened, but not anymore.”
A potential new state record dolphin fish recently was caught. If it had happened during Fishin’ Fiesta there would have been a big pay day for the angler.
“People will lie for money,” Martin said. “You have the potential to win $185,000 in prize money out there. The guy that broke the state record for dolphin fish would have got $10,000 from us for doing that in the tournament plus $1,000 for first place and would be in a drawing for $6,100 more. He could have walked away with $17,000, and I think he got a plaque for that catch.”
For the first time, the tournament allowed registration online at its Web site www.fishinfiesta.com. Martin said he got 45 entries there from Pearland, Texas City, League City, La Porte, Houston and even as far away as Austin and Dallas.
James “Sky” Zgabay made the trip from Austin to Freeport for the 22nd straight year. He fished with Robert Miller, a seven-year Fishin’ Fiesta veteran, and the two immediately jumped on the leaderboard with a 134-pound shark, a 140-pound grouper and a 13-pound barracuda.
“It’s a great tournament,” Zgabay said. “I have friends down here and love to come and fish. It’s a great area and we had a good day. We sat at our hole we go to every year for 2 hours, and after midnight we started to fish.”
It was a much shorter trip for David Nicholas and son Garrett, 8, of Lake Jackson, but still a great way to spend a holiday week.
“I’m on vacation and we’re coming out to have fun and fish,” David Nicholas said. “The Lions Club does a lot of great things for the community and puts on a great tournament, so we love to come out here and support them and have some fun at the same time.”
Jim Levesque is a sports writer for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0161.
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