Correspondent
Rick Goines
TARBORO —
Saturday was a cloudy and overcast day, but did not stifle the enthusiasm of the 61 anglers participating in the 2012 John Cherry Rockfish Rodeo On the Tar. TASS officials began inspecting and allowing the 33 boats to launch at 4:30 a.m. as anglers competed for more than $4,000 in prize payouts.
First place honors went to the team of Dempsey Dupree and Rick Goines, with a two-fish weight of 10.5 pounds. Dupree also snagged the “Big Fish in Honor of Jimmie Keel,” the single largest rockfish, which weighed in at 7.78 pounds. Dempsey said, “Winning the Big Fish Award in honor of Jimmy Keel was very special to me because I always had a lot of respect for the man and his many fine contributions to the community.”
Joe Dail captured the award for the largest blackfish, and Stuart Murphy landed a big 33.86-pound flathead, to take the largest catfish prize. J. Williams won the junior division, and the new Lady Angler prize, just added this year, went to Carol Long.
Proceeds from the tournament continue to fund the John Cherry Memorial Scholarship at Edgecombe Community College as well as other ongoing TASS community projects.
Sponsors Salute - Tournament organizers would like to extend a special thank you to the Gold Sponsors: Doug Henry Ford & Doug Henry Chevrolet and Tarboro Savings Bank.
The following are results from the tournament with weight and sponsors.
Rockfish
First place - Dempsey Dupree, Rick Goines 10.5 lbs Doug Henry Ford and Cheverolet
Second place - Sam and Samuel Anderson 7.7 lbs Carolina Metal Building Components
Third place - Jimmy and Jim Dupree 7.4 lbs Allstate Insurance, Anderson Agency
Fourth place - Joe Dail, Donnie Vick 7.16 lbs S & W Metal Works
Fifth place - Ricky Denny, Junior Baker 7.1 lbs Fleming Landscaping
Sixth place - Greg Bottoms, Robert Kelly 6.62 lbs Nash Co. Metal Buildings
Individual Awards
Big fish- Jimmie Keel award - Dempsey Durpee 7.78 lbs O'Malley Tunstall
Blackfish - Joe Dail 4.12 lbs Roberson & Dupree Shoe Store
Catfish - Stuart Murphy 33.86 lbs Bailey's Garage LLC
Lady Angler - Connie Long 3.78 lbs Telco Credit Union
Junior Division - J. Williams 2.74 lbs TASS
