Stu Apte |
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As he backed us within 40 feet of the tree, I tied a large popping bug fly with a 2/0 hook onto my 12-pound tippet. I made a presentation, and it landed right alongside the tree. By the second strip and gurgle of the fly, I could see all three fish elevating to strike. As happens all too often, the smallest one got there first.
The dolphin turned out to be a world record on 12-pound tippet, and still remains the longest-standing saltwater record on fly. Coincidentally, a year later out of the same lodge and using the same rod with 12-pound tippet, I caught what’s today the second longest-standing saltwater fly record: a 136-pound Pacific sailfish.
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In December 1964, I received an invitation from oil tycoon Ray Smith
to visit a fishing lodge he built called Club de Pesca Panama (now
called Tropic Star Lodge). Ray said I’d be his guest for 10 days in the
hope I’d consider becoming the club’s manager. Earlier that year I’d
gone back to flying as a Pan Am pilot, and the only way I’d give that
up would be if he’d gave me an irrevocable 10-year contract at $25,000
per year.
While that didn’t come about, I’ll never forget what did occur on that visit. Fishing one day with my then-wife out of single-screw diesel boat, I’d already whipped a 112-pound sailfish, making it the first Pacific sail ever caught on fly. Not much later, we came across a large mahogany tree floating off the mouth of a river near Pinas Bay. The captain made a pass around the tree, and we could see three large dolphin about 15 or so feet below it, their green bodies and blue pectoral fins lit up like neon signs.
As if the typical strength of a big dolphin isn’t enough with all the jumps and hard runs, my gear made it all the more challenging. The smallish reel actually was made for steelhead trout and contained 200 yards of backing plus the fly line. At times so much line was out of the reel that I could see the bottom of the spool. On top of that, the limber fiberglass rod felt very willowy, equivalent to a 10-weight – nothing like the backbone and strength of modern-day rods.
After about 35 minutes, I worked the raging bull dolphin to boat side. Racing back to the lodge, the IGFA certified scale registered 58 pounds. Even so, we lamented the fact that the other two dolphin were far bigger, and I’m not exaggerating to say that one exceeded 70 pounds and the other was close to 100.
