We nicknamed the fish Shamu because she put on an incredible show. First, she leapt completely out of the water, just straight up, and looked at us--gills spread and mouth open--maybe 7 feet from the boat. She looked as big as we were. I've never seen a bigger mouth in my life. I didn't think for a minute that we were going to get that fish in the boat.

She did some kind of a figure eight, some Greg Louganis move, and then a strong tail thrash that soaked us. Since his surgery, Lou is not supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds--not even a milk jug--but he grabbed the net out of instinct and scooped up the fish, which had to be about 50 pounds. At 57 inches, she folded in the net like a taco.