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Texas Girl Catches 184-pound wahoo off Cabo San Lucas
http://www.floridasportsman.com/casts/050819e/
The fish could sweep three IGFA world records.
A tourist from Nacogdoches, Texas, caught a giant wahoo that is eligible for three world records. Fifteen-year-old Sara Hayward battled the huge fish
from a 28-foot charterboat skippered by Capt. Gerry Martinez. In 50 years of fishing there, it was by far the biggest wahoo that captain had ever
seen. The fish was hooked only five miles from the famous rock arch that marks the harbor entrance.
Everyone assumed the fish was a large yellowfin tuna, because it stayed deep for 45 minutes, fighting against a Shimano 50 reel. When it surfaced,
there was lots of screaming from everyone on board. The captain dove down the ladder to help mate Marcos, who handled the leader. Martinez gaffed the
huge fish while still three feet underwater on its first pass, but it took everyone on board, pulling together, to swing the fish aboard.
?It?s unbelievable that she could catch that big fish,? said the captain. He may have been right. IGFA representative Minerva Saenz, who inspected the
fish, later said the lure was a "Mean Joe Green" rigged with the oldest set of 10/0 tandem hooks she had ever seen, barely hanging together on
monofilament leader that was chafed from the fight from one end to the other, and worn thin at the loop. All of this was connected to a barrel swivel
which was once black and was now a shiny bronze.
Sara, who is a band member and on the volleyball and track teams at her high school, weighs 130 pounds. She has applied for three world records for
the 184- pound catch: all-tackle, junior female and the women?s 50-pound line class record, which is a shocking 30 pounds more than the current wahoo
record of 153 pounds, caught in 1996 in San Salvador, Bahamas.
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Teenager nets record wahoo
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050...
August 21, 2005
BY BILL SARGENT
A 184-pound wahoo caught by a Texas teenager on vacation in Mexico is one of the most recent catches being considered as a world record by the
International Game Fish Association.
Sara Hayward, 15, of Nacogdoches, Texas, and her father Tim Hayward were fishing on July 29 out of Cabo San Lucas on a 28-foot charter boat named the
Pez Espada operated by Capt. Gerry Martinez.
The 67-year-old Martinez, who has been fishing the Baja California Sur, Mexico, waters for 49 years, said it was the largest wahoo he ever witnessed.
Hayward fought the giant for 45 minutes on a Shakespeare rod with a Shimano 50-class reel spooled with 50-pound line.
If IGFA officials approve Hayward's application, the catch would set three world records including the all-tackle (heaviest ever caught) mark. She
would break the existing record by nearly 26 pounds, eclipsing a 158-pound, 8-ounce wahoo taken off Loreto, Baja California, Mexico in 1996.
Also, she would set a record for junior female and the women's 50-pound line class record.
When the fish was first weighed at the dock by a team of dock boys, the scale showed 192 pounds. Minerva Saenz, the local IGFA representative, used a
certified scale to get the accurate weight of 184 pounds.
The fish was bigger than Hayward, who weighs 130 pounds. She is a band member and on the volleyball and track teams at Nacogdoches, Texas, High
School.
"I don't know how Sara managed to land this beast," Saenz was quoted as saying in an IGFA media report.
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Bob H
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Great Story!
Good stuff
"IGFA representative Minerva Saenz, who inspected the fish, later said the lure was a "Mean Joe Green" rigged with the oldest set of 10/0 tandem hooks
she had ever seen, barely hanging together on monofilament leader that was chafed from the fight from one end to the other, and worn thin at the loop.
All of this was connected to a barrel swivel which was once black and was now a shiny bronze."
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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Whopper of a wahoo
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/083105/sports_20050831014.ph...
Nacogdoches teen lands 184-pounder for record
August 31, 2005
Matt Williams
Here's a big fish tale that will have offshore fishermen everywhere crying in their beer:
When Sara Hayward went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on a family vacation in late July, fun in the sun is what she had on her mind.
In looking back, the 15-year old Nacogdoches High School sophomore says she almost got more fun than she bargained for after she and her father, Tim,
boarded the Pez Espada and headed out for a morning of deep sea fishing in the cobalt waters of the Sea of Cortez.
The 32-foot Californian sportfishing rig was captained by Gerardo "Gerry" Martinez, a Cabo native who claimed he knew where the big ones lived.
"Trust me," Martinez told the Haywards. "I am 67-years old and I have been fishing these waters since I was 18-years old. I know where to take you."
Martinez obviously wasn't lying.
Roughly 10 miles from the archway at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, the Haywards connected on several yellowfin tuna that wrecked Martinez's spread.
They also hooked up with a blue marlin, but lost the fish when it threw hook.
Shortly before noon, Martinez was trolling more than 3,000 feet of water when one of the Shimano 50 LRS reels began to whine.
Sara was standing closest to the rod, so she did the natural thing and grabbed it. The exhausting battle that ensued was one she won't soon forget.
"The fish just took off and the reel started screaming," Sara said. "I jumped in the fighting chair and the deck hand reeled in the rest of the lines
to get them out of the way."
The next 45 minutes were brutally draining as the 130-pound volleyball player wrestled a piscatorial giant with blistering speed and power.
"I had no idea what I had hooked into," Sara said. "Gerry thought it might be a big yellowfin. But all I knew was it was big and strong. Every time I
managed to reel it close to the boat, the fish would dart off 200 yards and strip all the line I had reeled in. That happened four different times. It
was pretty frustrating. They were pouring water on the reel to help keep it cool."
Bullish as the fish was, Tim Hayward said it didn't have a chance against his daughter's strong will. His only worry was if the 50-pound test line
would hold up.
"She's a very competitive person," Hayward said. "When it was her against the fish, I knew she wouldn't give up. That is just the way she is."
It took some doing, but the young girl finally played the big fish down and won the first part of the battle. The second half was almost as physically
taxing as the first.
"When we got it up beside the boat is when we saw how big it was - it was huge!" Sara said. "The deck hand [Marcos Gonzalez] yelled for Gerry to come
help. He said it was the biggest wahoo he had ever seen. They gaffed it and it took all four of us to get it into the boat."
Not realizing the true size of the fish his daughter had just landed, Tim Hayward brought up the idea of releasing it after a few quick photos.
"They are pretty serious about catch and release in Cabo, so I figured that would be the thing to do," he said.
But Martinez had other ideas.
"Gerry told us 'no way.' He said that was the biggest wahoo he had ever seen," Hayward said. "He said we needed to take it in and have it weighed -
that it was a possible new world record."
Sara said the captain's enthusiasm intensified as he motored the cruiser to shore.
"He was talking to all kinds of people on the radio and just jabbering away about it," she said. "He told them he was bringing in the biggest wahoo
anybody had ever seen. He was pretty excited."
Word of the giant fish traveled quickly around Cabo, a fishing-oriented tourist town.
A crowd of locals had gathered on the dock by the time the Pez Espada rolled into port. Many of the people were pushing dollies loaded with buckets,
obviously hoping to take some of the succulent meat home for dinner.
"When I saw them, I told my dad there was no way that fish is going to fit in a bucket!" Sara said.
Martinez initially weighed the 8-foot-4 wahoo on a set of uncertified scales at the city dock. The scales pressed to 192 pounds.
We called Minervas, a bait and tackle shop in Cabo that has scales that are certified with the International Game Fish Association.
Sara's wahoo lost 8 pounds on the certified scale. Even so, it was still 25 1/2 pounds heavier than the current IGFA all-tackle world record (158
pounds, 8 ounces) caught in Baja California, Mexico in June 1996 by Keith Winter.
Pending 90 days for certification, Hayward's wahoo should be the new IGFA all-tackle world record for that species.
"I still can't believe it," Sara said. "I felt terrible at first, because there are guys down there who are pros at this. They have all the high-tech
equipment and spend all kinds of time trying to catch big fish and then I go out there and catch a world record."
Go figure. A 184-pound fish that swims 70 mph and hits like a bull vs. a 130-pound teenager.
No disrespect intended, but sport fishing matchups rarely get more lopsided than that.
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