Pacific Barracuda World Record:
The Incidental Record Holder
Steve Mras talks about the circumstances behind his 12 lb tippet Pacific Barracuda world record. Next time he'll read the fine print!
| Introduction |  |
Background | |
The Plan | |
Oops... | |
Editor's Comments... |
When the DAC announced the "Top All-Around Boat" award, Steve decided that his boat Salispuedes was going to be the first name on the perpetual trophy.
"My plan was to fish all the tournaments, and supplement the tournament points with a few club records," Steve said.
His early season results were disappointing, but by the fourth DAC event, Salsipuedes was "in the zone".
"After not placing in the first 3 tournaments," Mras relates, "I fell into a streak where we literally swept the placings for the next 3 events with points for guest anglers, button fish, big fish and top boat thrown in for extra measure. However, one can never be comfortable fishing from a skiff with three DAC marlin tournaments looming at the end of the season."
His biggest concern was being overtaken by Jimmy Kingsmill or Pat Holmes, both expert marlin anglers who fish on top professional billfishing teams.
Steve decided to build up his point lead by targeting the existing DAC records for Pacific Barracuda on fly gear. Steve observed "There was a 20 lb tippet record of 3.7 lbs and a 12 lb tippet record of 3.1 lbs," both potentially easy targets.
"I waited for the barracuda to show on the Huntington Flats," Steve recounts, "then I went out solo with a load of frozen squid, set up in the fleet, and started chumming."
"Using the Rio Hard Mono IGFA tippet material I received in the Beyond The Breakwater 3Bs Tournament, I caught fish that went 5.30 lbs on 20#, 5.40 lbs on 12# and 5.80 lbs on 8#, while muffing the gaff shot on two fish on 16#, one that looked to be about 8 lbs," Mras said. The fish he managed to land were all nice fish for fly-flingers, but not huge. However, since the Pacific Barracuda category was brand new, "I checked with the IGFA, and learned that these fish surpassed any current submissions for the Fly Rod category..."
However, there was a problem...
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