Tarpon? Marlin Nearly Breaks Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo Record; Grouper does Break One

Ben Bernard (right) and captain of the Whoo Dat Steve Richardson stand next to Bernard’s 705-pound, 4-ounce blue marlin.
[Photo Credit: Brent St. Germain http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20130727/ARTICLES/130729598 ]

The tarpon were scarce at the 91st Annual Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo this week in Louisiana. No boats registered silver kings during Thursday’s fishing. It looked like Friday would be just as bad, but at at 6:45pm Cory Cheramie put a 102-pound 3-ounce tarpon on the board. This would turn out to be the only tarpon taken during the entire three-day event giving him the first-place win in the tarpon division.

But Cheramie’s tarpon wasn’t the highlight of the tournament. Ben Bernard, fishing with Captain Steve Richardson of the Whoo Dat brought a fish to scale that nearly broke the Rodeo’s blue marlin record set back in 1984 when Louis Gautreaux of Lafayette brought a 723-pound, 8-ounce blue Marlin to the scales.

Bernard hooked his marlin at about 1:00pm on Saturday. He was fishing near Green Canyon, about 100 miles from Grand Isle. Bernard fought the fish for thirteen hours. It took the crew thirty minutes to get the fish on board. Everyone knew it was a big fish, but just how big wasn’t confirmed until they got the fish back tot he scales for weigh in. The marlin maxed out the Sand Dollar Marina’s weigh station scales, and tournament and marina officials had to locate a second scale.

When the fish was finally hung on the replacement scale, it weighed in at 705 pounds and 4 ounces — 18 pounds and 4 ounces shy of Gautreaux’s Rodeo record–what Bernard refers to as a “fish of a lifetime.”

Bernard may have been close to a record breaker, but Angler Kevin Hatcher set a new Rodeo record on Saturday when he beat Glenn Thomas’ 2012 99-pound grouper record with a 115-pound 1-ounce grouper.

In the tuna division, Jansen Pellegrin took first place with a 143-pound 1-ounce yellowfin; second place went to Jean Arceneaux with a yellowfin of 109-pounds 8-ounces.

Also, topping in the 100-pound barrier on Saturday was Jansen Pellegrin of Houma with a first-place yellowfin tuna (143-1) and Jean Arceneaux of Larose with a second-place yellowfin tuna (109-8).

Congratulations to all of the anglers fishing in this year’s 91st annual Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo, the oldest fishing tournament in the U.S. Congratulations to the Rodeo sponsors and organizers for another great year, and congratulations to all of this year’s winners in the Rodeo.