A Testimonial by Capt. Travis Holeman on his Potential 4 lb. Tippet Red Fish Record Caught with Fly Water Expeditions!

Today started like any other day for Capt. Greg and I.  Question?  Which way do you want to go?  Breakfast is always surrounded by conversations of wind direction and tide.  We always throw ideas back and forth but the wind tells the truth.  Today it told us to sneak to a secret spot.  Nunya flat!

Time to fish.  As always I venture to the bow acting like a ballast and trying to sneak my way to fishing!  Whatever works.  Greg grabbed the push pole and joy washed over me like a wave.  Bow time!  Sweet.  Earlier at the boat ramp Greg was showing off his knot skills while stalling for the sun to begin to warm the flats.  I tied the 4 lb. class to my 6wt fly rod and after careful fly selection Greg’s Hudini Crab in purple found it’s way to my rod.  Great fly.  Really great fly.

We made it about 30 yards and a fish floating high was glowing like a stop sign.  Big and red.  One false cast and shoot.  Worried about a shock break I stripped slow as the big fish followed the fly into the depths.  Just as she vanished I felt the tug.  Eased the rod to about 45% and smoothly let her clear the line.  Finally putting a little pressure on the big red.  With a little slip the fly was loose.  Bummer.  Oh well.  I was still wondering if that was the one…. looking out in a daze.  Greg whispers “yo I got another one…. floater.”

Seeing the floating red instantly.  I still had not stripped out the line from the previous fish.  Quickly judging the distance I stripped what I thought would be 50 or so feet off the reel.  Greg shifted the boat to give me a clean cast.  What followed was awesome.  After watching the fly cast land perfectly and the big red pounce all I could think about was we aren’t videoing!   The cast landed perfect, I stripped and she followed.  Swing and a miss… strip, strip.  Again I was a little worried about setting the hook and did so very softly as she ate the fly.  15-20 min. later the huge red came to the boat.  I really enjoyed fishing a trout rod for our huge reds.  The 6 wt allowed for a much better shock absorber than say an 8 or 9 wt rod.

Greg jumped into place after expertly maneuvering the boat to keep me in prime fighting position.  Greg gave the boat one last push on the pole, I swung the big red back to Greg as the boat passed putting him and her in position for a gorilla grip landing.  As Greg had informed me earlier we had no net,… the plan had to work to land the fish.  Thankfully we land most fish by tailing, so it was no big deal.  Greg’s face lit up like a kid on Easter.  Fish landed and all gear still kicking.  Great fish.  Great day.  Great friends.  Thanks Greg.  Capt. Greg landed a huge black drum on 8 lb. after we ate and had a very long time to enjoy what had just happened.  I just landed the best fish I have ever caught.  Gotta love it when it all comes together.

Catch-em Big!

Travis Holeman

727-644-4347

travis@holemanbrothers.com

Potential World Record Redfish on 4 lb. Tippet!

Capt. Travis Holeman and I went out today to have a guides day off. I took Travis to a place I have been finding some big fish so we tied on 4 lb IGFA standard tippet and waited till we saw the right fish to throw at. Travis was armed with a 6 weight, felt like we were going to a gun fight with a knife but that is what we had to do. Our fish finally showed himself, Travis laid a perfect 50-60 ft. cast in and the red fish pounced on the fly. With 4 lb tippet you really can’t set the hook so Travis just cleared the line without breaking the tippet and that is when we figured we had a shot. After a 15-20 minute fight the fish came to the boat and I laid the gorilla grip on his tail to make sure he didn’t get away. When the fish came in the boat we knew he had a shot to break the current 29 lb record. The red fish weighed in on the boga grip between 29.5-30 lbs. We measured his length and girth and they measure out at 25″ girth, 42.5″ length with calculates out to over 29.5 pounds which would be a new world record for 4 lb tippet on fly rod. We are submitting everything to the IGFA so cross your finger for us, We also caught a 43 pound Black drum on 8 lb tippet today but that didn’t come close to the current 8 lb tippet black drum record which is nearly 60 lbs. Tight lines!