This past weekend myself and 6 other members of the Alamo Fly Fishers from San Antonio made our 2nd annual overnight pilgrimage to the north jetty of Port Aransas. We planned on taking the last jetty boat over and spending the night fly casting for tarpon. Last year we jumped 9 and landed 1, so hopes were high. Throughout the night a few reds, Spanish mackerel, skipjacks, and snook were caught. Nothing hot and heavy, just a fish here and there. The unusual part was the number of snook caught. About 6 were landed which is the most I have ever heard of for either conventional or fly tackle in one sitting. Most were hooked right in the rocks just before the fly was re-cast.

Then just about midnight, a call came over the Motorolas that Jon King had a massive hookup. He had been casting a 10 weight fly rod with a black/red Whistler, size 3/0 fly on the end of his 30 lb leader. Jon had been fishing the channel and casting with the (unusual this time of year) northeast wind possibly supplied by the hurricane spinning in the gulf. Jon said at first his line felt heavy and then when he applied some pressure to set the hook, the fish took off. The first thought was "tarpon," but tarpon tend to jump as a method of escaping. This fish did not jump.

The fish made 5 runs with one of the runs aimed at the end of the jetty where the rocks tend to make short work of any leader. With some opposite side pressure Jon was able to turn the fish away from the end. Amongst some of those runs a few knuckles were busted as the reel handle on fly reels rotate when the spool rotates. Trying to gauge when to recover some line and when to let go is iffy at best in broad daylight and even worse in the dark.

While this was going on the rest of us became spectators watching Jon and hearing him grunt as he tried to gain some line. I think each of us was wondering that maybe hooking a beast of undetermined specie is not what it is cracked up to be if Jon was having a difficult tussle with this monster.

Once the fish was beat and brought alongside of the rocks we could see it was a huge bull red. Bill Sough was able to get the Boga on him and up on the rocks. It measured 42 inches and it bottomed out the Boga at 30 lbs. After a few photos the fish was revived and released. Long afterwards someone mentioned that it might be a possible state record. Jon said it never occurred to him to keep the fish for eating or submission for a state record. His main concern was getting it back in the water after that long battle and the prolonged picture taking time.

The current fly record is 41 inches and 28 lbs. I think Jon has some paperwork ahead of him.

More pics

Jon King on the left assisted by Bill Slough on the right

Man, that is one big fish! I sure hope that it goes through for the record. But whether or not, Jon has one heckva a memory.

Those other images were great Lefty, what's up with the Shark Shack, do y'all camp out and fish for sharks on the fly?

hell of a red for a fly-rod. congrats to Jon for that beast

hell of a red for a fly-rod. congrats to Jon for that beast

Great catch

Awesome red on ANY tackle, ever more impressive on a fly rod rod, good job

I dont believe u can get it certified as a record. I have tried but it is not possible without having the fish weighed on certified scales. I think u might be able to get a certificate for catch and release on a flyrod but that is about it. My measurements were bigger than the current state record but length and width dont matter, its total weight. When I applied for the state record, they sent me back a certificate for the great catch. If u had it weighed on a scale and the scale was able to get an accurate weight, U could get the scale certified but it sounds to me like u didnt have a big enough scale and that would void the record due to there not being an exact weight. Good luck and good fish.

Read my story in the current issue of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters magazine. It is on setting world and state records. Without getting into detail, you can get your scale certified after the catch.

So, u would say your fish weighed 30lbs? and beat the record by two? Sounds like a good idea and yes, i know u can get scale certified after the fact. I mentioned that in the post above. Its a great idea and hopefully it will work. Was a good idea to measure+weigh the fish right away and get the true weight. Nice catch.

Though I wasn't using a fly, I caught a 45 inch 40 lb red on 10 lb mono. It came off the fish pass jetties in Corpus. The fight seemed much the same for the fly red. I will soon have my pictures developed and will post them on the site. The thing looked like a shark. I tried to figure out the state record and recieved info that it was 90 lbs and another record book said unknown. Can't wait to let everyone see my pick.