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| The 2012 tourney was held in Georgetown |
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| Andrew McLain and Paul Sasser serve as event organizers |
The third edition of the Lowcountry Tarpon tourney put on by the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust (BTT) was fished September 14 and 15 out of Georgetown. Sixteen boats entered the event that is slowly growing in name recognition as the tarpon tagging research tourney in S.C. - with some guides saying that this area of the coastal Lowcountry will be famous sooner rather than later for their tarpon activity. Over the two days of fishing a total of four tarpon were caught and released by three boats, and one tarpon was tagged by Bruce Unger of Miami who brought the
BTT's tarpon tags to town. Congrats to Capt. Steve Roff who guided a three-man team to victory with a tarpon release on each day of the tourney. Angler Ashley Coleman of Jackson, Alabama released his first-ever tarpon on Sept. 14 when a 125-pounder ate a croaker at 4:30 in the afternoon, and after a 35-minute fight resulting in swivel to rod tip, the fish broke off the line and this tarpon was not tagged. Then on Sept. 15 it was Daniel Dunbar who caught his first ever tarpon around noon on (a top-secret artificial lure), and after a brief 10-minute fight from anchored position the 60 to 70-pound tarpon was released without being tagged. Third team member William Powell of Hartsville, S.C. was glad to witness all of the excitement - winning the event with two tarpon releases. Captain Steve Roff was featured in my recent article about S.C. tarpon fishing in
TIDE magazine. One lucky tarpon swam off with a $5000 satellite tag when Capt. Doug Miller, guide Jay Nelson and angler Antonio Castellvi of Spartanburg hooked up at 1:30 on the 15th. This was Castellvi's first S.C. tarpon and Miller reported that this was a real 'cordial' tarpon that made a good candidate for tagging. The
Lowcountry tarpon tourney saw a lady angler, a British angler and even an angler in a wheelchair, all go fishing in pursuit of the silver king, which carries a common allure for anglers. An awards dinner and raffle was held at Land's Inn restaurant in Georgetown so that all of the fish tales could be shared as the sun set on another memorable and successful tarpon tourney in the Lowcountry outdoors.
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| Local tarpon art from John Witzel |
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| Lady angler and son who pursue tarpon |
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| Satellite tag for tarpon |
To view a blog entry from the 2011 BTT Lowcountry Tarpon tourney click
here.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming up and covering the event! We will hope to see you there again next year. It is growing each year.
P Sasser
Those of you who work hard to organize this event can count of the future support of Lowcountry Outdoors, especially when it concerns the conservation of our valuable coastal fisheries.
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