Blue Wave’s New Orleans based Pro Redfish Team of Captain Ross Barkhurst and Captain Lloyd Landry had a full schedule for the 2005 tournament season.  Along with their Venice, Louisiana based guide operations they were now involved in three separate Professional Redfish Tournament Trails.  The Redfish Cup, The FLW Redfish Series and the IFA Redfish Tour. A minimum of a 105 days was set aside to fish all these venues.  “When we were fortunate enough to be home last year it seemed time reserved for relaxation was spent running from hurricanes.”  Tournament angling was no longer just an obsession of these two Pro Anglers it was now a second full time job.

First and foremost Barkhurst/Landry were bound and determined to make the Redfish Cup Championship in 2005. It was something that had eluded them by only scant ounces the prior two seasons.  Making the Championship requires a team to be somewhere in the top 25 in points after the completion of all qualifying events.  Going into the final qualifying event Barkhurst/Landry were sitting firmly in 12th place in points.  “We were extremely pleased with our performances thus far.  Finally there was confidence among us that we had made the coveted Championship.  Unfortunately Clearwater, FL was in our way and she didn’t want to let us by.”  All they realistically had to do was catch two Reds during the three day event.  One of Blue Wave’s other teams had located an area that had a few nice Reds in it.  Larger Reds in unfamiliar waters can be tricky to pattern as well as catch.  Barkhurst/Landry decided to stay close to the launch as opposed to their normal long open water runs.  They had located smaller Reds but there were plenty of them and easy to catch. “We really wanted to play it safe on this tournament.  Going for the win on each and every tournament is a large gamble that had taken it’s tole on us.”  Unfortunately, on day 1 of the event Barkhurst’s/Landry’s safe small fish bite had shut off.  They did not bring a Redfish to the scales on day 1.  “It was just a crazy event.  Not just by our fish not cooperating but the fact that so many of the nations best anglers came in with 0’s or just 1 fish.  What was even more shocking was the fact that a majority of the anglers that were way out of the points race caught fish and moved way up. To add insult to injury here came another hurricane. The rest of the event was cancelled.  There was no chance for us to go out and redeem ourselves on the second day. At this point, with the way the points added up, all we needed to catch was one legal Red on that first day.  From 12th place in points to 47th.  One poor day of fishing killed our entire season…and we were playing it safe so remember that!”

 
Barkhurst/Landry had been experiencing a mediocre season on the other two tournament trails.  “Things like this happen when you spread yourself so thin.  We really worked hard to make that ‘Cup’ Championship.  It affected our performances on the other tours. Our highest placing in the other tours was 4th place.  Naturally that happened after we were leading going into the second day.”

 
They did however make the FLW Redfish Series Championship. An unexpected but welcome surprise.  FLW Redfish Series Championship takes the top 50 teams of their Western Division Tournaments and puts them up against their top 50 teams from their Eastern Division Tournaments.  Barkhurst/Landry came in each day of the Orange Beach, Alabama event in 17th place.  “It was a great tournament!  We executed our plan flawlessly. Being consistent each day of the tournament is just as important as winning an event. As long as it’s consistent in a good way.”  Barkhurst/Landry wrapped up their FLW season with a solid 17th in standings. They also qualified to fish the IFA Championship but elected not to.  “It was just a bad time of the year for us.”