| Big news for all the minnow catchers of the | | | | catching small fish, I will soon be the world record |
| world.In a recent article I read near the end of | | | | holder for smallest fish caught with a fly. Even as |
| January, scientists think they have discovered | | | | we speak I am contacting the folks at |
| what is the world's smallest fish. The Paedocypris | | | | Gamakatsu hook manufacturers, trying to get |
| progenetica-a member of the carp family-has | | | | them to make up a bunch of #173 size hooks, so |
| been found in a peat swamp in Indonesia.The little | | | | that I can tie the world's smallest fly.Provided the |
| fellar or "lady" as it turns out, is a whopping 7.9 | | | | Paedocypris procrastinaticus will take a fly.I also |
| millemeters long and has a complete vertebrae in | | | | am contacting G. Loomis to see if I can get a |
| it's tiny little "micro-carp" body.This has the boys | | | | .005 weight custom "A.J. Klott special" rod |
| down at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity | | | | manufactured for what surely will become the |
| Research doing handsprings and high fiving each | | | | next craze in the fishing world. You can almost |
| other in what must resemble a Super Bowl like | | | | see ESPN hosting the world's first Microfishing |
| celebration.If I had known this was going to be | | | | Championships of the World where heavily |
| such big news, I would have long ago invited the | | | | sponsored small fish enthusiasts compete for the |
| research team on one of my fishing adventures, | | | | BIG Bucks!!The markrting team down at Intel |
| because surely they would have gone ape every | | | | better take note of this, because they will want |
| time I hauled in a one inch fingerling on my three | | | | to surely get first crack at sponsoring a "micro |
| inch fly.Now that is something to get excited | | | | event " like this.The weigh in should be an |
| about.The article goes on to state that the new | | | | extremely tense moment, when contestants pull |
| species was found in a highly acidic peat swamp | | | | their Indo-Pacific Gobys, Paedocypris giganticas, |
| on the island of Sumatra in water that most | | | | and Schindleria brevipinguis, out from their live |
| fishermen will refer to as "frog water". Dark tea | | | | wells and leap high into the air as the winning |
| colored water that is 100 times more acidic than | | | | kilograms are announced. Sprinting about |
| rainwater. More important than that it states that | | | | fanatically with tweezers aloft, showing the world |
| the male "carplet" evidently has an enlarged pelvic | | | | their impish trophy, and tearfully thanking the |
| fin and exceptionally large muscles that it uses to | | | | folks at Trilby Tropicals for supplying the brine |
| grasp the female during fishy copulation.Outside of | | | | shrimp bait that brought in the "smallie".Don't |
| the facts that I am extremly uncomfortable | | | | laugh-it can happen!Anyway, next time you are |
| knowing that the Bio boys are engaging in fish | | | | out fishing and feel that frustrating feeling of |
| voyeurism and that the male "mini-carp" is forcing | | | | having another guppy stealing your bait, you might |
| himself on the smaller female of the specie, it is | | | | want to just double check that fish that appears |
| exciting that in this day and age we can still find | | | | to be half the size of your hook. You may have |
| any new specie of any sort.Of course the usual | | | | just earned your way into the annals of fishing |
| doom and gloom comes with the finding, as peat | | | | history or better yet, earned yourself a place at |
| swamps are under threat in Indonesia due to fires | | | | the Royal Society of Londons next big fish |
| lit by plantation owners and unchecked | | | | fry......A.J. KlottAuthor, writer of fishing humor,and |
| development and farming.I for one, hope to make | | | | "fly tack" peddler.A.J. writes about the |
| it to Sumatra soon- because this may be my only | | | | people,characters and modern day events that |
| chance to make it into any record book of any | | | | surround the fishing world. His first book is due |
| kind. I am confident that with my past history of | | | | out in December of 2005. |