LAKE CHARLES, LA – Hook & Barrel Magazine is proud to present the Salty Catch Trout Shoutout held at the Lake Charles, Louisiana Civic Center. The event will be held June 5th in partnership with the State of Louisiana and sponsored by PENN, plus local top sponsorship by Navarre Auto Group and is expected to host nearly 2,000 people. Adding excitement and community camaraderie to the tournament, a festival style day of entertainment will bring the community together for a great cause. Beginning at 10am, the community is invited to watch anglers from around the region and as far away as Texas, try their luck at winning the first prize pot, a whopping $1,000.00 for the biggest speckled trout as part of an overall cash and prize winnings exceeding $10,000 for other placing fish! Throughout the day, anglers will be bringing their fish in to be weighed. Along with this, vendors will be set-up throughout the Civic Center grounds near the amphitheater where visitors can browse local offerings as well as meet with the Penn team and meet the Editor-in-Chief of Hook & Barrel Magazine, John J. Radzwilla.
The crowning jewel of the event will be a community concert held from 3-5pm. Rising country music star and American Idol winner, Laine Hardy, will headline the main stage and delight fans as well as raise money for hurricane relief. A native of Livingston, Louisiana (pop. 2,000), the 2019 winner of American Idol was six when he picked up his first guitar and later joined his brother playing in local clubs and bars for upwards of six hours a night, inspired by artists ranging from Luke Combs to Elvis Presley to Mark Broussard. After winning American Idol in 2019, Laine focused on songwriting and touring, headlining shows in Denver, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Minneapolis, Lexington and more. Laine’s 2020 “Ground I Grew Up On” virtual tour, made over 15 online stops to date, with views at 2 million and counting.
Laine’s latest hit song on country music radio nationwide.
Tickets for the event and angler registration go on sale April 15. Event tickets can be purchased on hookandbarrel.com/tickets and anglers can register on saltycatch.com.
Emceeing the event will be Salty Catch owner, Crystal LaFosse. LaFosse has owned and operated fishing tournaments in the Lake Charles area for the last 5 years. Growing the Salty Catch brand from its infancy, The Salty Catch has become a community staple and an annually anticipated community event. Over the years, LaFosse has awarded nearly $100,000 in cash and prizes as well as donated over $10,000 to charity.
This year, LaFosse has partnered with John and Natalie Radzwilla, founders and publishers of America’s fastest growing outdoor lifestyle magazine, Hook & Barrel, to take the tournament to the next level. Hook & Barrel has built a reputation of being the go-to publication for all things outdoor lifestyle with a heavy celebrity presence. Gracing the covers of the magazine have been personalities ranging from Discovery Channel star Mike Rowe to rock-and-roll legend Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top. Other notable covers include Emeril Lagasse, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Janson, Jeff Foxworthy, and Luke Bryan.
Benefiting from the event, Laine Hardy heads a charity which aids victims of hurricanes in Southern Louisiana. Proceeds from the sale of VIP tickets, which includes a meal generously donated seafood from our VIP food sponsor, the Louisiana Seafood Promotional and Marketing Board, will directly go back to the charity, lending aid to those devastated by the most recent back-to-back hurricanes to hit the region.
*** This will be the first in the series of Hook & Barrel Salty Catch fishing festivals! More details to come on future event dates! Stay tuned!
Laine’s latest hit song on country music radio nationwide.
