World Record Payara 
Caught February 5th, 2001
Uraima Falls, Venezuela, S.A.

"In my 44 years of Fly Fishing, only very few things have come along to totally improve a fisherman's ability to catch larger fish.

TYGER LEADER for me is right up at the top when it comes to presenting a fly in a natural manner to game fish that have a mouth full of sharp teeth.

I have used it locally in Florida water to South America and on to Africa - it's the best."

-Bill Elliot

After lunch on the second day we made our way out to the canoes and left for the first set of rapids. I had taken notice on the first day that the payara moved into holding positions in the run just above the first falls each afternoon.

I told Steve that I was going to work my way up stream about 50 to 75 yards to the first pool. Along with my payara catcher (Dali), I carefully negotiated the large rocks. Dali carried my camera case and fly box.

Stepping out onto a flat rock I stripped out the 36 feet of 750 gr. Shooting head, I made a roll cast, followed by a water hall and shot the head, with about 50 feet of running line, towards the first current in the center of the river. Holding my rod at a high angle, I worked my fly across. As the fly swung below me I felt a sharp hit. I set the hook with a line strike. The payara cleared the surface and jumped three times before diving into the lower rapids. In less than a minute the fish had taken me into over 200 foot of backing. I kept the rod as high as I could and worked my way up onto the tallest boulder I could find. From this point I was able to keep my line and backing from the many sharp snags that could cut me off.

After a few more jumps and several shorter runs I took control and started to gain line. The strong current was the payara's friend. But with each moment that passed I gained more and more line, until I had worked this fantastic fish into slower water.

I knew it was a good fish, but when Dali went over his knees into the river and grabbed the payara by the tail and lifted it up for me to see, I knew that it was the largest I had caught. The fish weighed 14 pounds on both of our Boga grips.

We kept the fish.