Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/742011
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 123 TrouTalope Second, troutalope are such strong fighters that should a fly fisherman actually hook one, the odds are 1,000 to one against the fish ever being landed. Maybe higher. More than a few anglers have been pulled into deep pools and drowned by these fish— then later found with a broken rod in hand and a grin frozen on their lips. Why are these fish so strong? We don't know, but we do know that intelligent fly fishers who target them (illegally) often spend weeks in the Bahamas practicing on tarpon before attempting to take a troutalope. As one veteran put it: "If you tie a hundred-pound tarpon tail-to-tail with a three-pound troutalope and drop them in the water at the same time, the tarpon will be pulled backward so fast all his scales will fly off." Of some several hundred troutalope hookups, maybe two are ever netted. The rest straighten hooks or break off. And even when brought to the knee for netting, you guessed it, they use their horns to tear a hole in the net to escape. In one reported case, a fly fisherman claims to have been jabbed in the thigh by a 12-inch horned troutalope while kneeling to land it. The stabbing holed his waders, punctured his skin, and sent him to a nearby tavern for medical care where, amid a crowd of skeptics, he attempted to explain how something that looked like a cross between a trout and an antelope had broken his rod and drawn blood. Sadly, our hero was not successful in convincing his audience about what had happened, but at least he did not have to pay for his own beer. Following the A look at a rare and virturally unknown species of gamefish. By Paul Quinnett S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 123