FEATURED ARTICLE: The Biggest Fish On A Fly OTHER ARTICLES
   On the 3rd day of fly fishing for sailfish out of Iztapa, Guatemala with Capt. Chris Sheeder aboard the Magic, the day started out like most days in some of the best sailfish waters in the world, with some pretty good action as soon as we got on the water. Little did I know, that day would unfold into one of the most exciting fishing experiences and crowning achievements of my fly fishing career. My fellow anglers Ron Angell and Rick Killingsworth, and I were having a great morning with 5 or 6 sailfish landed and released and at least that many missed or lost. As the morning turned into sun drenched afternoon, it was getting pretty warm and for the first time on the trip the fishing just shut down. For about two hours, we couldn’t tease a single sailfish up behind the boat.

   When we fly fish for marlin and sailfish, we troll an array of hookless teasers behind the boat. This array looks like a school of baitfish to the sailfish. When billfish come up for them, they slash at the teasers with their 24” bill and they try to eat it. We see this happen, pull the teaser in & cast the fly. We use 12Wt. Rods, billfish leaders with 20lb class tippet and big popper flies.

    So a couple hours go by with no action in the heat of the day, and the slow rhythmic rock of the boat is making everybody a little sleepy. It’s been my turn at the rod and I’m still staring out over the teasers in a trance, waiting for something to happen. All of a sudden I saw a bill come out of the water behind the rear teaser the size of a broomstick. I only saw it for a second and then I thought maybe I imagined it. So I yelled up to Capt. Chris, to ask him if he saw it too. At that moment, a huge Blue Marlin leapt out of the ocean and smashed the rear teaser. One of the mates jumped on the teaser rod and started to reel in as fast as he could, and this monster of a fish turned and followed the teaser right to the boat half out of the water like a torpedo. I can remember thinking as I was making my back cast “ I’ve hooked 130lb marlin on the fly that have schooled me, what am I going to do with the biggest fish I’ve ever seen”. I made the cast, the fly hit the water, I made one strip and the big Blue charged across and crushed my fly with a perfect going away take. I could not believe my eyes, I set the hook and this huge fish jumped from the ocean tearing line off my reel like I was hooked to the bumper of a getaway car. He raced across the ocean with bounding leaps clearing over 10 feet of water with every jump covering 100’s of yards of ocean. The Capt. threw the boat in full reverse and the chase was on. At this point Capt. Chris asked me what I wanted to do.  A marlin of this size would easily be a world record on the fly, but it might take hours to land even on terminal tackle, never mind a 12 Wt fly rod & 20 pound tippet. I knew this and told Capt. Chris that I was going to break the fish off. But then Capt. Chris added that by girth and length this marlin was 400lbs, over 100lbs bigger than the world record on the fly. He knew I didn’t want to kill this magnificent Blue, so he suggested we give it an hour and see if we could get a legal release. A legal release is when you bring the fish in and reel the leader into the rod tip, then you can cut or break the fish off while he’s still in the water. Everyone on board agreed and the fight continued. We chased that fish all over the ocean, but to my surprise, I started to take a considerable amount of line back. Before I knew it the big Blue was just below the boat, and I was inching him toward the surface. The leader was just inches from the rod tip when big Blue decided he wasn’t going to make it that easy, and again with a powerful thrust of his tail he shot out and raced across the ocean. After having this happen twice, the third time was giong to be the charm. I had to put a lot of pressure on him and thought for sure he was going to break me off. The excitement was building as I inched the big Blues head to the surface. After what seamed like forever fighting for the last 3 inches, finally the leader came into the rod tip. The crew and my fellow anglers erupted in cheers & high fives. I tried to bring him around to the side, for a picture from the bridge, but he had given me all he was going to give me and with a thrust of his tail and a headshake, he parted from my 20 lb. and swam off into the depths

The Patient Angler

Peter J. Bowers

patientangler.com 		PHOTOS (Click to enlarge)


I Don't Think He Likes The Fly


The Patient Angler, 20 lb Tippet, 400 lb Marlin


Fighting For The Release Inch By Inch
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