What do you do when a potential record Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) unexpectedly eats the dry fly you are casting for trout? Well, that is exactly what happened to angler Steve Selway on March 22nd while he was fishing Chile’s famed Yelco River, out of Puma Lodge. For nearly an hour, Selway skillfully played the massive king on 6 kg (12 lb) tippet and a 7 wt fly rod, after it crushed the custom fly he was fishing. Once subdued, the fish was quickly measured, documented, and released alive. At 116 cm, the fish is plenty long enough to replace the current All-Tackle Length record, which stands at 111 cm.
On a recent trip to Concordia, Argentina, Jim Schmid caught and released this beautiful golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis) while fishing the Uruguay River on March 6th. Schmid coerced the dorado to eat a Rapala diving plug that he was casting, and had the fish landed in roughly 10 minutes. Upon seeing the size of the fish, Schmid jumped ashore for a quick weighing, which put the fish at 9.07 kg (20 lb) – big enough to qualify for the men’s 8 kg (16 lb) line class record, which currently stands at 4.54 kg (10 lb).
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