The King

Capt. Mike Locklear and Yancy Stribling III of Atlanta, an experienced fly fisherman, came face to face with a giant silver king. The fish was bigger than any Mike had caught and "definitely the biggest fish" Yancy had ever caught.

The day started out with less than ideal conditions for fly fishing. Although the water was clear off the Homosassa Flats, there was a prevalent west wind of about 10 to 15 knots. Mike stopped the boat at a place where he knew the fish would be crossing, a shallow flat about 6 feet deep. After a short wait, Mike spotted a school of about 20 tarpon swimming very slowly in a 30 foot diameter spawning ritual known as a daisy chain. The fish were very calm and had not been bothered by other anglers in the area. However, this was the last calm moment Yancy and Mike would have until much later in the day.

As their adrenaline started flowing, Mike and Yancy planned their attack. Since Yancy would be casting up wind, Mike had to get the boat within 50 feet of the fish. At this point, Yancy's fly line got tangled and as he straightened it out, the school swam around the boat and got downwind of them. This position gave Yancy an advantage.

Mike poled the boat very hard to get in front of the schools path and then he had to stop the forward momentum so they could work the school of fish. On the third cast as the fish moved toward them to swim under the boat, one of the fish ate the fly. Immediately upon being hooked, the fish jumped alongside the boat with such force that Mike and Yancy were almost splashed. At that point, Yancy realized he had a knot in his line and was sure he would lose the fish. However, the fish paused for a few seconds, long enough for Yancy to regain his composure and get the knot out of the line. Then the big poon ran out all 110 feet of the fly line and made its second jump. It was then that Mike and Yancy knew this was the biggest fish they had ever encountered.

The fish headed west and Mike had his trolling motors going full speed to keep up with it. ( Trolling motors are used to try not to spook other pods of fish for the other guides in the area). The fly reel has 300 extra yards of line called backing and the fish was 150 yards into it and about a mile from where it was hooked when Mike dropped the big motor down and the GPS indicated they were traveling at 4 miles per hour.

Mike turned off the motor and Yancy continued to fight the fish for 2 hours and 30 minutes before he got it to come to toward the boat. The fish made another jump and the closer it got to the boat, the bigger it looked. Mike and Yancy started to considered the possibility that the fish might be a world record. This thought brought another dilemma to the anglers. In order to be considered for a record, the fish would have to be killed and have its weight verified. Neither Mike or Yancy wanted to see the fish killed.

By fly fishing standards, the fish was considered a caught fish when Yancy pulled the fish up to the first knot of the leader to the rod tip. As the fish was laying along side the boat it measured 84 inches in length. This is when Mikes and Yancy's mind started ruling over their hearts. If the fish had measured 44 inches in girth then it would weigh over 200 pounds.

In the end, the decision as whether or not to gaff the fish was made for Yancy and Mike. The rod broke thus disqualifying the catch for a record according to IGFA rules. After the rod broke, Yancy and Mike hand lined the fish for a few second and Mike popped it off and the fly came flying back into his hand.

Mike and Yancy watched in awe as the beautiful silver king swam away from the boat without a scale missing. Even though it was very still quite early, they called it a day and retired to K.C. Crumps to recuperate and celebrate.

We will never know the true weight of Yancy's fish, only the fact that it was 84 inches long. I asked Mike if he really thought the fish was a world record. "That is something we will never know. If I could have gotten an accurate girth measurement then we could have figured out the weight. I had plenty of opportunity to gaff the fish before the rod broke. I just couldn't do it and Yancy didn't want to see the fish die. For us the excitement was in pursuing and catching the fish and knowing it was the biggest we had ever seen."