Week Three of The Miller High Life® Professional Tarpon Tournament Series® presented by Century® Boats turned into quite a milestone for the Yamaha-powered anglers on Miller’s Team Ale House.

A sold-out field of 50, four-person teams competed in the three-hour event.  Powered by a Yamaha F250, Yamaha pro Capt. Artie Price, Yamaha pro Capt. Greg Devault, Capt. Jon Turner and Frank Massaro took home the win by pulling in the largest fish ever weighed-in during the history of the live-release Tarpon Tournament Series - a 217-pound Tarpon.

The tournament, which consists of five weeks of competition in Boca Grande Pass, Fla., has seen fish over the two hundred pound mark over the past six years.  This year, Capt. Price and his team held up that tradition again during Week Three with their winning fish.

“We knew it was going to take 200 lbs to win,” said Price.  “We let a 140-pound fish go early, and that decision paid off. We knew the fish were running big but didn’t realize the size of our winning fish until we actually started to pull it into the boat”

With the victory, the team won a new Century® 2102 Inshore powered by a Yamaha F150 four-stroke outboard as well as a Continental® aluminum trailer.  In addition, Price and crew extended their lead in the Yamaha Team of the Year Race by securing a single day points total of 617, shattering the previous record of 555 points set by Capt. Doug Creek last week.  Heading in to Week Four, Team Ale House now has 1,397 points and is 427 points ahead of the second place team, Culo Majado.

“It’s a great feeling to win Week Three and set a new weight record but the tournament is definitely not over yet,” said Price, who is a three-time Yamaha Team of the Year champion. “I’ve been 500 points behind during this competition before and have managed to pull off a win.  Even though we had a big week during Week Three, there are a lot of big fish still out there and we have to stay focused.”

In total, ten fish were weighed during Week Three, for a total of 1647 pounds, averaging 165 pounds each – an extremely large average for this tournament.   In addition, a total of 75 Tarpon
were leader released by the 50-boat field during the three-hour event, which meant a fish came boatside every two minutes, yet another PTTS™ and Tarpon Tournament record. 

To date the PTTS™ has weighed and released 38 Tarpon for a combined weight of 5,554 lbs, or an average of 146 lbs.  In addition, 158 fish have been leader released, which averages to be one fish caught during every minute of fishing during PTTS™ events.

“Boca Grande is the best place in the world to catch Tarpon and the fishing this year in the PTTS™ has accentuated that point,” said PTTS™ TV host Joe Mercurio. “The tarpon caught by Team Ale House was truly a once-in-a-lifetime catch.  Within the fishing community, this is a very big deal. We applaud Artie Price and his team for their expertise and wish all of the anglers luck as they move into weeks four and five. “

The Miller High Life® PTTS™ 2009 season continues next Sunday, June 7 for a double-header event, Week #4 and #5.  The action begins at 6:30 a.m. EST. In addition, a 13-week television series surrounding the tournament will air beginning July 2 on Sun Sports™ Network and World Fishing Network™. Check local listings for more information. This year the show will be available in over 37 million households nationwide and in Canada. 

For more information and pictures please visit
www.tarponanglersclub.com Y