Jack Kautz of Lodi, CA may have shattered the 46-year-old I.G.F.A. twenty-pound line class record which was set on June 15, 1966. Although unofficial until the line is tested and other catch details are verified, the 101-pound 2-ounce monster hooked at 9:30 am, Friday, June 22, 2012 could shatter the existing 85 lb 13 oz record caught by Willard Hanson in La Paz back on June 15, 1966.
Fishing aboard Ramon Almanza's super panga, the "Los Amigos", Kautz caught his prize roughly 100 yards from the beach in front of the Punta Arena's lighthouse at East Cape, Baja Sur on a trip that started out jigging for pargo…with no luck. Giving up on pargo, they decided to troll close to shore toward the lighthouse where they knew the rooster fishing had been hot.
According to Kautz who was trolling a live mullet on a Penn Power stick, Penn Senator reel loaded with 20 pound monofilament line straight to the hook (no leader), "My live bait had only been in the water thirty seconds when the huge rooster inhaled it! The first time the fish surfaced, Captain Ramon exclaimed in broken English. ' Oh my God it's a giant'."
When landed approximately forty minutes later it was all the two of them could do to hoist the fish into the boat.
Still hoping for pargo they continued to troll all the way back to Punta Colorada, catching and releasing three smaller roosters in the 15- to 20-pound class before calling it a day.
Kautz's impressive athletic background is to be admired. He has competed in over 100 events ranging from triathlons, open water swimming, adventure racing, kayaking, and climbing mountains. In one thirteen month stretch he swam the English channel, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, completed the Ironman in the United Kingdom AND Arizona.
In the past nine months he has participated in two "Tough Mudder" events. For the uninitiated these hardcore 10 to 12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test participants' all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie have raised in excess of $3 million for the Wounded Warrior Project.
He completed one in Squaw Valley last September and competed in another in Temecula, CA in early 2012, breaking his leg in the second event which delayed his planned trip to East Cape three months, from March to June.
Fishing aboard Ramon Almanza's super panga, the "Los Amigos", Kautz caught his prize roughly 100 yards from the beach in front of the Punta Arena's lighthouse at East Cape, Baja Sur on a trip that started out jigging for pargo…with no luck. Giving up on pargo, they decided to troll close to shore toward the lighthouse where they knew the rooster fishing had been hot.
According to Kautz who was trolling a live mullet on a Penn Power stick, Penn Senator reel loaded with 20 pound monofilament line straight to the hook (no leader), "My live bait had only been in the water thirty seconds when the huge rooster inhaled it! The first time the fish surfaced, Captain Ramon exclaimed in broken English. ' Oh my God it's a giant'."
When landed approximately forty minutes later it was all the two of them could do to hoist the fish into the boat.
Still hoping for pargo they continued to troll all the way back to Punta Colorada, catching and releasing three smaller roosters in the 15- to 20-pound class before calling it a day.
Kautz's impressive athletic background is to be admired. He has competed in over 100 events ranging from triathlons, open water swimming, adventure racing, kayaking, and climbing mountains. In one thirteen month stretch he swam the English channel, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, completed the Ironman in the United Kingdom AND Arizona.
In the past nine months he has participated in two "Tough Mudder" events. For the uninitiated these hardcore 10 to 12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test participants' all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie have raised in excess of $3 million for the Wounded Warrior Project.
He completed one in Squaw Valley last September and competed in another in Temecula, CA in early 2012, breaking his leg in the second event which delayed his planned trip to East Cape three months, from March to June.
"It's hard to believe an injury I suffered on an obstacle called 'twinkle toes' would result in me being in the right place at the right time to catch a potential I.G.F.A. record at East Cape in June." Kautz commented.
He continued, "It seems the older I get the more I want to challenge myself. When I turned 40 I looked back and saw all the things I missed when I was 20; I don't want to look back when I'm 60 and wish I would have done more at 40."
Regardless of the I.G.F.A. World record claim, without a doubt Jack Kautz's roosterfish catch will be a welcome addition to his remarkable list of accomplishments.
Regardless of the I.G.F.A. World record claim, without a doubt Jack Kautz's roosterfish catch will be a welcome addition to his remarkable list of accomplishments.
2 comments:
Wow, an impressive but dead fish. It was an accomplishment and Jack seems to be an extraordinary athlete. Maybe when he is sixty he will look back on his experiences and realize that the prize was the experience and the challenge. I suspect the medals and trophys won't mean that much. I'm a fisherman. It's sad to see such a magnificent fish killed to feed an ego.
I taught all my kids how to throw fish back from the first catch. It was part of the deal. The group I fished with threw back wall sized fish several times. I get all that. However, our egos sometimes require evidence of successes. My fly fishing friends have a bounty out on me...
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