Pleasure Island stays busy every Memorial Day holiday.

Like this weekend, about 200 anglers bring their best catches to the Saltwater Anglers League of Texas’ facility across from the Port Arthur Yacht Club boatyards hoping to capture top prizes in SALT’s Memorial Classic.

“Even though it’s a holiday weekend and people seem to forget that it’s Memorial Day weekend and what Memorial weekend really means, it does give everybody a chance to get out in sunshine and kick off the summer,” SALT vice-president Tony Viator said.

This is the 44th year for the Memorial Classic, but SALT dedicated this edition to the memory of longtime tournament director Stan Armstrong, who died last summer.

Anglers can win up to $750 in the speckled trout, flounder and redfish divisions and up to $150 in black drum, sheepshead and croaker divisions.

SALT also hosts youth divisions in which kids can earn non-monetary prizes.

Unlike many tournaments, there are no set borders anglers must stay within.

“It is a little different, but it’s hard to police or enforce borders like that for our little organization,” SALT board member Mark Foreman said. “We just kind of did away with it, and figured it was OK as long as you were fishing in waters accessible to the general public. You want to put people on the same level. You don’t want to give anyone an advantage.”

Viator rued that the heavy clouds and lightning might have scared off some potential contestants, but people continued to move in and out of the weigh-in area in hopes of a nice payday.

“I think the main thing to the longevity of our tournament is making sure that it’s a fair tournament,” he said. “Everybody has a good time, and everybody knows it’s a great thing to do on a long weekend.”

Sunday marks the second and final day of the tournament, with weigh-ins from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews