Dr. Martin Arostegui, Coral Gables , Florida , U.S.A. may have caught the heaviest fish ever documented on fly. Guided by Capt. Ralph Delph, Key West , Fla. , and fishing near the Marquesas Keys west of Key West, Florida, Arostegui used the scent line of a filleted barracuda to entice sharks onto the flats.
Instead of a tiger, a lemon shark smelled the scent so Arostegui switched to another fly rod with 12 lb tippet and a bright orange seven-inch long feathered fly streamer in an attempt to break another record he held. Like the tiger shark the lemon shark is a member of the whaler shark (carcharhinidae) family and once hooked Arostegui battled the fish for over an hour.
Unlike most World Record catches, Capt. Delph has developed methods to allow valid documentation to allow the release of his anglers catches, even huge fish like this shark.
The shark was pulled through the transom door into a specially designed eight foot long, three foot deep aerated, hydraulic live well. After an hour long ride back to Key West the pair, with the help of Delph’s son Mike who is also a noted Keys guide, finished documenting the catch. For that Arostegui used a portable ScaleMaster II from International Weighing Systems along with a special canvas sling to cradle the fish.
At the IGFA after preliminary line testing and documentation review, the 12 lb tippet over tested at 13 lbs so Arostegui’s fish will now be entered in the 16 lb tippet line class. If approved this would beat his current 257 lb 0 oz IGFA mark that he recorded two years ago and would also be the heaviest catch on fly beating out a 353 lb. hammerhead shark caught two years ago, also in the waters near Key West, by Rick Gunion.
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Topic: lemon shark caught on lime fly (Read 2318 times)