Episode 53: Capt. Dan Malzone - Life of "Guido"

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5 • 973 Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dan Malzone experienced first hand the halcyon of Homosassa's tarpon fishery when all the big guns were there chasing the holy grail of Tarpon, a 200 pound behemoth. All the players were there: Evans, Apte, Pate, Huff, Dopirak, Delph, Robinson, Chittum, and everyone else who wanted a shot at catching the biggest tarpon on the world. I showed up in the late 80's when the fish had already been rapidly thinning out. I just wanted to see what all the buzz was about, and hopefully catch some fat fish. Soon, I became friendly with many of the big names I was awestruck by, and one of them was Dan Malzone. Malzone, like most others was extremely nice. With a big presence and a deep voice, he was respected greatly by all his peers. I soon realized why. He was not only generous but had world class skills on both ends of the boat. With Dr. Pete McGary poling, he caught a 167 pound tarpon on 12 lb test for a new world record. He later guided Dr. Balch to a 179 pound tarpon on 12 lb test pushing that tippet class to a whole new level unimaginable, until Tom Evans shattered it with a 194 pound tarpon. The world of record chasing back then had such an audience, Sports Illustrated devoted an in-depth article to it. And right in the middle of this historical time, Dan Malzone not only partook, but helped push the boundaries and evolve the sport of fly fishing for tarpon.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you were a tarpan angler or a guide in the late 70s pursuing a world record and weren't in
0:08.8	home assass of Florida, you were in the wrong ballpark. When the word in photographs of monster fish got out,
0:15.0	the players couldn't get there fast enough,
0:18.0	and the records begin to fall.
0:20.0	One of the names that made headlines
0:22.0	was a local angler, Dan Malzone.
0:24.0	Today he sat down with us and reminisced when the biggest tarp in the world were still there.
0:30.0	We hope you enjoy. We broke everything.
0:35.0	We broke lines, we broke hooks, we broke rods, we broke our minds, we broke our minds. We broke marriages. We broke the whole thing. We came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls and whoever had the biggest pair of
0:54.2	pain he's went to pot.
0:56.2	I knocked another arrow and he turned around the other way and I shot him going through
0:59.7	the other way so I double-lunged him both ways. But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.
1:07.0	I got him on.
1:09.0	All right now, we're going to teach him a lot so.
1:12.0	I'm just an old guy that likes to fish I'm not quitting yet.
1:17.0	And he said, well who the hell do you think you are, Sue App?
1:20.0	And I said that's exactly who I am.
1:23.0	Life's journey to the grave should not be one arriving with a pretty well-preserved body,
1:29.0	but rather skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly torn out, thoroughly used up, proclaiming wildly,
1:37.0	Wow! What a ride!
1:40.0	There's something busy going on here.
1:45.0	Well, Dan, I think it's been around here.
	...

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