Tarpon Fever

Report Date: August 27, 2002

ADVENTURE SOUTH GUIDE SERVICE-Buras/Empire/Venice---

Had an awesome day today down in Venice with Capt. Ross Barkhurst on the Lil' Argonaut. Ross called me this morning and woke me out of a dead sleep to tell me that he was in Buras and was planning on heading south from Venice for a little tarpon action. I?ve been on his butt for some time about taking me out, so when he called this morning, I was not going to turn him. I called my brother Blaise, told him to get dressed, and was south bound in no time headed for Venice. Capt. Ross and Capt. Brandon Ballay had located the tarpon yesterday afternoon, but had come up empty, not putting a fish in the boat. We headed to the same area and found Capt. Coon and Capt. Brent Ballay in the tarpon pretty good. When we arrived, Coon had just released a really good fish and there were fish on the surface everywhere.

When you are good, you?re good. Ross pulled us right up to the edge of a school of tailing fish and had the first fish of the day hooked and in the air before I could make my second cast. After fighting this fish for a while, I touched the fish to make it an official catch and pull the hook from the fish's mouth. Ross estimated the fish to go about 60 lb. and we were as happy as could be to get that fish in the boat. It was the first tarpon that had ever been caught in his bay boat. We fished around for a little longer, chasing school after school, when all of a sudden the water exploded with the second fish of the day, and it was a good one. This time it was Blaise's turn, and I could not have asked for a better first tarpon for my brother to tangle with. Ross said the fish was big, estimating it to go 170 lb. plus from the first brief look he got at it. After 2 ? hours and several attempts to clear the water by this big hog tarpon, Ross and I leadered the fish and put it in the boat for some pictures. When we got a good look at it, Ross was certain that the fish would have gone 185-190 lb. on a scale. We quickly took a few pictures and put the fish back in and watched as the big hog swam away. After high-fives all around, we were headed back toward the other boats, who had been in the tarpon thick while we were fighting our fish.

We fished around some more and Ross hooked another fish about 115 lb. which he officially caught before we headed in at around 3:00 to avoid some thunderstorms that were building in the area. It was an awesome day as a total of 9 tarpon were caught and several more were jumped off.

If you want to after one of these Silver Kings, give Ross a call at 504-329-0586. Ross is one of the most well known tarpon fishermen in the all of SE Louisiana, and we all know that we have some of the best tarpon fishermen in the country down here. Give him a call while the fishing is hot!!!

Until Net Time, Catch Em' Up!!!

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