Photo Courtesy RoHo Penny Collins reeled in a whopper of a catfish. She took first place in the catfish category by catching a 38.5 pound catfish. The scales topped out at 38.5 pounds.

slideshow

Photo Courtesy RoHo TheRoHo Fishing Tournament always draws a large crowd, but ticket sales this year reached around 6,000.

slideshow

Photo Courtesy RoHo The annual tournament attracts fishermen - and women - of all ages, including this young angler who caught a whopper.

slideshow

MIDDLESBORO — The 42nd Annual RoHo Fishing Tournament was held at the Beach Island Marina and Resort on Norris Lake on May 5 and 6.

The RoHo Fishing Tournament is the only fund raising event held by the local civic club. Proceeds from the ticket sales are used to sponsor the Christmas shopping spree for children in the area who have been selected by teachers as needing help in order to have gifts at Christmas.

With the initial income from this year’s tournament, along with the outstanding support from area citizens and merchants, the RoHos are looking forward to another great shopping spree. The early count on ticket sales looked good. The goal was to sell 5,500 tickets and they sold approximately 6,000.

RoHo member Jeff Higdon was the number one in ticket sales. He sold 750 tickets. Eddie Beeler was second by selling 550 tickets.

There were seven first place winners in the tournament. Ralph Hackney took first place in the large mouth category. His fish weighed in at 5.7 pounds. Gregory Buell took first in the small mouth category. He fish weighed in at 3.5 pounds.

Charles Turner caught a large rock fish that was 27.7 pounds, which allowed him to take first in that category.

Gary Howard won first place in the walleye category by catching a 3.6 walleye.

The crappie category was won by Douglas Hackney. His crappie weighed 1.5 pounds.

J.T. Perkey caught a 1.1 pound bream sunfish shellcracker that weighed in at just above a pound, which won him that category.

Penny Collins reeled in a whopper of a catfish. She took first place in the catfish category by catching a 38.5 pound catfish. The scales topped out at 38.5 pounds.

At the 2011 Christmas shopping spree sponsored by the Rohos, a total of $38,900 was spent on local children. Each child got to spend $110 on clothes and $40 for toys. In addition, each child was given a pair of athletic shoes donated by an anonymous sponsor. There were 250 children from 23 schools in the area who shopped in the local Wal-Mart in Middlesboro before being treated to lunch and a visit with Santa.

RoHo members would like to express their gratitude to all the supporters who make the shopping spree possible each year.