By Bob Eichelberger

BAMM!, I crashed into the console of the Glacier Bay catamaran, propelled by my son Logan being thrown into my back. "Dang", I said as we recovered and sat down. "This may be survival fishing today!" We had just made a hard run north in the Pacific several miles from the lands end arch of Cabo San Lucas. After bucking the thirty knot north wind we turned into the twelve foot swells being churned up by a hurricane just to our west and ran several miles offshore. We then turned across the swells to begin trolling- resulting in the crash into the console. we were fishing with Baja Anglers, flyrod and light tackle specialists and hoped to take a bull dorado or striped marlin on the fly.

Three days earlier, my son, Logan and I had arrived at San Jose del Cabo. We were told the August weather would be very hot, however, with low humidity and a strong breeze the high 80's felt very comfortable, particularly compared to Gulf Shores. The next day we chartered a 31' Cabo Express with Picante fishing. the boat was beautiful, stable, and air-conditioned! The crew was superb. Logan had a 350 lb.Blue Marlin on the 50 wide that ultimately threw the hook, but we were otherwise skunked. We hoped for better luck two days later. "The hurricane should stir things up and make the fish bite better", Juan, our Baja Anglers captain, said. Juan was dressed in designer fly wear with a bright peach shirt, "Lefty hat", and a dorado leather belt. I had a 9 wt. Fly rod that had belonged to my friend and colleague Dr. Mike Tindol, which I was carrying for sentimental reasons. Juan added a 12 wt. and a 14 wt. for good measure.

Shortly after we began trolling, a dorado hit at a lure. We quickly dropped back a bridled live bait and soon had a big bull teased up near the stern of the boat. I began trying to cast the fly in the 30-knot wind! The sinking tip helped buck the wind, but more importantly, past experience in Patagonia kept me from getting discouraged fighting the wind. When my arm ached from casting, the big bull finally hit the fly. Logan soon had a fish on the spinning rod as well. after fighting my fish for forty minutes, the Albright knot separated from the fly line.

I Immediately picked up the 12 wt. while John rerigged my 9 wt. Soon I was hooked up with a 30 lb. fish that I ultimately landed. I then switched rods with Logan, who almost immediately had a fish on the fly.

Back with my 9 wt., I was fishing again. Juan teased a huge bull almost to the transom. I laid the "big brown fly" out behind it. The bull turned and hit the fly going away on the run. I settled in for the long fight. the fish almost spooled me, necessitating me to put a lot of pressure on the spool. In excitement, I got a bad "knuckle rap" as I released the spool. During the long fight, Logan hooked up and landed a big 40 lb. Bull. I assumed the fish I was fighting was similar in size. We were all shocked to see the size of my fish, when after one hour and ten minutes we got it near the gaff. Juan expertly gaffed the fish and I marveled that the frayed 15 lb. tippet had not broken. After shaking hands, I asked Juan, "Could this be a world record?"

"Yes, I think so", Juan replied , "It should go fifty to sixty pounds. I'll call Grant at the marina on the radio and check." After a frenzied conversation, Juan said "Hold on, we're going to run in at full speed, it could be a world record!"
As I relaxed, exhausted on the transom seat with my cerveza, water constantly pouring on my head, I marveled at Juan, who was still dry, perched like a cat on the lee T-top post, reaching over to steer.

"If this is a world record, he's going to get wet!" I said to myself. My thoughts turned to Mike Tindol, whom I knew must be smiling down from above at the big fish caught on his rod.

We were met by a crowd at the dock. Unfortunately on the big hand held scale the fish "only" weighed 48 lbs. The tippet class record is 54 lbs.; however, this did not dampen our enthusiasm. everyone agreed that this certainly had to be an Unofficial "9 wt, rod record".
P.S. Juan is still dry!