8th annual Jared Roe Memorial Walleye Tournament is June 8 at Angostura Reservoir
HOT SPRINGS – Mother’s Day weekend 2011 was a time for celebration at Angostura Reservoir for the family and friends of Jared Roe, 19, of Rapid City, who was four days away from his deployment to Afghanistan as part of the S.D. National Guard’s 200th Engineering Company stationed out of Chamberlain.
That farewell party however turned into every parents’ worst nightmare when Jared died in a drowning accident while enjoying some time on the lake with a few of his friends.
His memory, and his incredible love of fishing, is now what is celebrated every year in June, as his parents – Jerry and Julie Roe, now full-time residents of Angostura south of Hot Springs – host the annual Jared Roe Memorial Walleye Tournament. This year’s 8th annual event is taking place this Saturday, June 8, and is considered the region’s largest walleye tournament, featuring 80 boats.
This tournament was started as a way for Jared’s siblings and parents to honor his death, but now is considered even more as a way to bring people together to do something that he loved.
Jared’s decision to join the National Guard came at an early age, and was something he followed through with immediately after graduation from Rapid City Stevens in 2009, which also resulted in a full-time job at Camp Rapid.
“When 9-11 happened,” his mom Julie said. “He was 10 years old and he said, ‘I’m going into the National Guard when I get old enough.’ And I said, ‘No, you’re not.’ And he goes, ‘Yes, I am.’ He was 17 years old when he graduated and he went to a recruiter and we had to sign for him. I didn’t want to, but I did, because he wanted to go. And, that was the end of that.”
At 6-foot, 6-inches tall and 260 pounds, his parents described their son as “all muscle” without “an ounce of fat on him.” His stature and personality made him a fearless and loyal friend to many and someone who could always be counted on to bring a smile to anyone’s face.
Despite living in Rapid City, his summers growing up as a teenager were often spent at Angostura with his two-years younger brother Michael, along with older step-siblings Chad and Mandy who were Jerry’s children from a previous marriage.
At the time, the Roe’s had a weekend trailer at Long’s on the south end of Angostura. It was there where Jared developed a love for fishing and would often take their three-person paddleboat out to troll the bays for walleye.
“I got them into hunting and fishing; Jared way more than Michael,” said dad Jerry. “Michael liked to fish when you were catching them; Jared didn’t care … that’s all that Jared wanted to do was hunting and fishing.”
After the boys got older, Angostura remained a special place for the Roe family which is why they decided to hold Jared’s going away party at the lake in May of 2011. After having his celebration on Saturday, May 8, the family was out enjoying the lake and fishing on their pontoon on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 9. Afterwards Jerry and Julie decided to head back home to Rapid City but Jared – knowing he was not going to make it back to the lake until next summer – wanted to stay down one more night to hang out with his high school buddies, Nick and Dusty.
Later that night, the three boys and two local Hot Springs girls, took the pontoon out on the water under the moonlight.
“It was dark and the water was high like it is this year,” said mom Julie. “Jared knew the lake, and evidently they pulled up over by the point on the inside of Pig Beach. There’s one part, just five foot (and other part) where it’s really deep.”
Julie said the group of friends then decided to take a swim. Nick dove off the side of the boat while Jared dove off the back of the boat, “and he never came up.”
“The boys thought he was just goofing around,” Julie said, as she and Jerry then described how Jared’s friends ultimately found him floating on the water nearby when the moonlight reflected off his white swim trunks.
Jerry and Julie admittedly continue to disagree on the exact cause of their son’s death, but the coroner’s report states that Jared hit his head on the bottom of the lake and broke his neck. Jerry contends that Jared must have hit his head on a floating log, due to the bump on his head and the way in which his friends describe the angle of Jared’s dive.
Indisputable, however, is the fact this his death was instantaneous on impact.
“I got the call at 1:13 in the morning from the Game Warden down here who said Jared had been hurt in a boating accident,” Jerry said, as he later described how he ultimately got the news of his son’s death over the phone from an emergency room doctor at Fall River Hospital.
“After I found out he died, I just walked out into the living room and dropped to my knees,” Jerry said. “Julie jumped up and ran into Michael’s room and said, ‘Michael! Jared died.!” He then described how his youngest then-17-year-old son shot out of bed and screamed in horror that he had just lost his hero.
By 7 a.m. that same morning, the Roe’s said they had 25 people at their house, and by 7 p.m. that night, there were over 300 people there. “And it just kept on, day after day,” Julie said.
Jared’s funeral five days later was attended by more than 1,200 people, including a Two-Star U.S. Army General who presented the flag to the family. Jared was then buried at the National Cemetery near Sturgis with a funeral procession of more than five miles long.
After a significant time of grieving and wondering how to move on after Jared’s death, his siblings – Michael and Mandy – came up with the idea for the family to start hosting a fishing tournament in their brother’s memory.
“They came up with it, but we do all the work,” Jerry and Julie laughed.
The first event was held in 2015 and featured 35 threeperson teams with $500 added prize money from the family, plus additional cash and prizes from a growing list of sponsors. The second year grew quickly to 60 teams and then a couple years later to 90 teams, until the family realized they needed to cap the number at a more manageable 80 teams maximum. This is the number they maintain today, and is something that fills up very quickly, with registration taking place in a two week span each year from May 1 to May 15.
This year’s event will feature a total of $10,000 in prizes, thanks to the support from 80 different sponsors, along with the each team’s modest entry fee of just $50 per boat.
The Roe’s emphasize this as a family-oriented tournament where they encourage women and children to participate as well, which is also why they have no plans to ever increase the entry fee in order to maintain it as affordable as possible.
The top-10 places are paid out in prizes, which include plaques, cash and fishing gear, including a free fishing pole for all participants 15 years old or younger. The tournament winners are determined by the top-six walleye weighed in from each up-to-three member team. Entrants come from as far away as Colorado and as near as Hot Springs.
This year’s schedule includes a safety briefing and Calcutta at Pirate’s Pub and Convenience Store on Friday night, June 7, at 7 p.m. The tournament itself begins with a launch of all 80 boats at 7 a.m. from near Long’s and concludes with weigh-ins at 3:30 pm at Shelter 3 near the fishing pier between the Horsehead and Hat Creek Campgrounds.
After the tournament, the Roe family hosts a feed and celebration at their home just east of Pirate’s where they typically feed more than 300 people, which includes food donated by sponsors and also prepared by the Roe family and their friends and neighbors at Angostura.
In addition to awarding the cash and prizes, funds raised in the tournament also go to support some charities including the Gary Sinise Foundation, the National Guard Ready Awareness and the Angostura Volunteer Fire Department, in which Jerry is the Fire Chief.
“It’s fun and it makes me proud. Jared loved kids and he would be so proud,” said Julie.
Jerry said, “It’s a lot of work, but once we’re there and it’s all set up...”
“It’s all worth it,” added Julie, finishing her husband’s sentence.
For more information about the tournament, search Jared Roe Memorial Walleye Tournament on Facebook or go to jaredroememorial.com