THE IGFA REPORT CONTINUED

THE IGFA REPORT CONTINUED

When 10-year-old Dylan Swart of Orlando, Florida, hooked a 55-pound dolphin — pending as the small-fry record — while fishing out of Panama’s Tropic Star Lodge last December, a 40-minute battle ensued. The bait was a yellowfin tuna. Another fine catch by a young angler is the 327-pound-6-ounce striped marlin that 12- year-old Kiwi Jessica Woodcock of Hamilton caught in January off Kawhia in January, pending in the junior-angler class. An epic battle of four hours and 45 minutes brought the desired result for Trevor Hansen of Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, when he whipped a (E)107-pound-2-ounce yellowfin tuna on 20-pound.

tippet after it took a sardine-pattern fly off Cape Town in February. Less epic in time but more so in

size is the 385-pound whaler shark that Martin Arosegui of Coral Gables, Florida, caught off Key West in March. He fished an Orange Shark Fly and fought the beast for an hour on 16-pound tippet. The Pacific off Southern California’s Doheny Beach produced a (F) 46-pound-1-ounce California halibut in February for Julia M. Benak of Spring Valley, California. After the big flatfish clobbered her Yo-Zuri plug, Benak duked it out for 25 minutes on 16-pound line.