The 4th annual Tony Waguespack Memorial Catfish Jugline Jamboree is slated for this weekend, and organizer Steve Dufrene said the event is a perfectly fitting tribute to a friend gone too soon.
“Tony enjoyed the outdoors with a passion … not just hunting or fishing but whatever Mother Nature had to offer at that time of the season,” Dufrene said. “He appreciated all the diverse opportunities we are blessed to pursue here in South Louisiana, and he maintained that pursuit literally until the end of his all too short life.”
Dufrene met Waguespack at a gym in the early 1990s.
“It was just one of those deals … an accidental friendship,” Dufrene said. “He was the kind of guy who could make friends with a wall, and I’m a little chatty myself.”
Waguespack was only 45 when he died suddenly from a heart attack while on a hunting trip.
“I hope people remember him for exactly who he was … a sweet soul with an absolute zeal for life,” Dufrene said.
Dufrene said Waguespack’s unexpected death was heartbreaking, and that he wanted to do something positive and fun in his friend’s memory. He said inspiration was easy to come by after he remembered a jugline jamboree that he hosted in 2014 where Waguespack and his Bayou Gauche friend, Lance Dufrene, participated in and won.
“I knew it was right up his alley,” Dufrene said of Waguespack’s love for outdoor events.
After seeing the results of the inaugural jamboree in 2018, Dufrene said he decided to make the Tony Waguespack Memorial Catfish Jugline Jamboree a yearly event.
The 2021 jamboree in Waguespack’s memory will be held at Beck’s Bar on Highway 1 in Raceland on April 30 and May 1. The fee for the event – which includes a three-fish stringer and optional lunker per boat – is $50 per team/boat. Registration will end April 30 at 5 p.m.
Dufrene said 100% of the entry fees are paid out to participants.
For more information or to register, contact Dufrene at 985-859-6458.
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