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.

FS