Invitational Fishing Tournament

The Arroyo City-Refugio County Invitational Fishing Tournament that Dennis was a big part of was a spin-off of a fishing tournament called Arroyo City Redfish Tournament that raised money for the Rio Hondo Fire Department. There were several teams that participated from Refugio County in the mid 1980's all the way till 1995 when they stopped hosting the tournament. In 1995 there were so many teams from Refugio County that wanted to continue on this tradition, which is held the 2nd weekend of October come rain or shine, that Jimmy Green and Betty Rose started the Arroyo City-Refugio County Invitational Fishing Tournament. 

The tournament rocked along with Jimmy and Betty creating lots of great memories and a great tradition until the year 2002, when the Happy Fisherman took over. The Happy Fisherman consisted of Lawrence LaFrance, Jason Gillespie and Jeff Gillespie. Dennis was bouncing from team to team and finally settled down with the Happy Fisherman's team in 2004 and what a dream team for the "Just One More" slogan. With Dennis on our team in 2005, we won the tournament. That would be the last tournament held in Arroyo City because at the awards meeting that night there was a motion to move the tournament to Port Mansfield. It passed with a 21 to 7 vote and the new name of the tournament became Arroyo City/Port Mansfeild-Refugio County Invitational Fishing Tournament. In 2006 we held the 12th annual fishing tournament in Port Mansfield. It is still being held to this date with this past October being the 22nd annual.

At the 22nd annual fishing tournament this past October, none of the Happy Fisherman were able to fish due to family issues, work issues and due to the fact that it would not be the same without Dennis. But the tournament went on as planned. This year a portion of the Calcutta prize money was donated to the Dennis Henneke Foundation. This Tournament will never be the same without Dennis, but we will make sure his name is carried on by donating to this fund. Thank You Dennis Henneke for all the great memories we created together! May you RIP!