Most people know about Jack Nicklaus’ golf accomplishments as professional golf’s greatest champion with 18 major golf championships and 117 professional golf victories over his decades long career. But fewer know he has also one of golf’s best and most avid fisherman as well.
Now retired from the game he once dominated, he is still a regular with the rod and reel. While in San Antonio recently to speak at a banquet associated with the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open, Nicklaus was happy to talk about his love for angling of all kinds, his fishing trips and the one, which most recently, got away.
F&S: What about fishing do you enjoy?
JN: It was another form of competition. Golf was my main form of competition, and when I lost my ability to play golf, I lost that vehicle of competition. The fish don’t know how old I am. I enjoy fishing. It’s relaxing for me, and I enjoy being with friends.
F&S: I was in Iceland and saw your picture on the wall holding a huge fish, is that another thing you enjoyed about fishing was the exotic places you could go to fish?
JN: People don’t realize that the north side of Iceland is the warmest part of the country, you wouldn’t think that you’d think it’s the other way around. It’s nice weather and you can fish at midnight. I fished in Iceland a lot and in a lot of the rivers there. We had a lot of great trips there, I took my family and enjoyed very month. The Atlantic salmon.
F&S: Did you ever go to tournaments because you knew there was good fishing nearby?
JN: No, I never fished when I was in a tournament. I fish a lot more now than I did when I was playing. I probably do about five trips, maybe 3 days each, which is more than I did before. That’s what I do now. I’m fishing now more than ever.
F&S: Your golf accomplishments are set in stone and will never change. What kind of fisherman is Jack Nicklaus
JN: I’m OK. I’m a decent fisherman. I’m fairly decent with the fly rod—not fantastic. I certainly don’t rank with the top fisherman because I never really tried to do it.
F&S: Do you have a favorite fish?
JN: I like to fly-fish. I think the bonefish is my favorite fish.
F&S: Do you have a fish story?
JN: You see this scar right [points to his hand]? I made that scar last week. I had a fish that came (to my fly) and I hooked him. The line got caught up in my hand and the fish popped (off). I could tell it was a pretty big fish. About an hour later, I got about a 9 pound bonefish, which is really a big bonefish. My guide was taking photos then told me, “I hate to tell you this, but that fish you lost earlier was six to eight inches longer and 13 pounds.” Which was the largest bone fish I had ever had on the line, but I lost it.
F&S: Do you still have your big boat behind your house?
JN: No, I sold that, and I usually will just fly down to the Bahamas and fish for a couple of days with a guide and some friends.
F&S: Jack did you know Field & Stream is publishing their magazine again? You were on the cover in the early 1970s.
JN: Really? I think I had heard (they’re) back. That's great. Really nice.
F&S Classic: Nicklaus—Golfdom’s Happy Angler
From fairway to water way, the Golden Bear needs no handicap
By Jim Hardie
From the size of the smile across the famous face, you might suspect that he had just sunk a 20-foot putt to clinch the Masters Tournament. But golf superstar Jack Nicklaus was far from a putting green. He was engrossed in one of his favorite pastimes—light-tackle angling—and he was hooked into a full-grown sailfish.
"Look at that baby go," he shouted, carefully working the 8-foot spinning rod to keep slack out of the 12-pound-test line.
The action was taking place in the Yucatan Channel between the popular winter resort of Cozumel and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Nicklaus was taking a few days off from the demands of the professional golf tour. As golf's all time leading money-winner he is entitled to a day of fishing now and then.
"I haven't had enough time for any serious fishing since 1968," he said. "Between golf tournaments I've been doing some television commercials; I just signed a 10-year contract with a big corporation to represent them on an international basis; I'm on the sports advisory staff for an international airline; and I have other business interests."
Asked if the trip to Cozumel indicates fishing trips are going to be sandwiched between golf tournaments more frequently than in the past, he laughed. "I wish that was so but I'm afraid it isn't," he said. "I plan to fish Cozumel again this year and I may slip in a little tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. Going after tarpon with a fly rod is the kind of fishing I love most."
Nicklaus isn't the first big-name golfer to find relaxation in fishing. Slammin' Sammy Snead held the world record for bonefish on 12-pound-test line—15 pounds, caught at Bimini in the Bahamas. Julius Boros is an experienced angler in both fresh- and saltwater, and has appeared in fishing films on television. JoAnne Carner on the women's pro golf tour is expert at taking bass on plug-casting tackle. And Shirley Englehorn, also a professional golfer, has a 74-pound 8- ounce sailfish on the wall of her home in Palm Desert, California, which she caught off Key Biscayne, Florida, on 20-pound-test line.
The trip to Cozumel began for Nicklaus at midmorning when he left Palm Beach International Airport. In little over an hour his jet had winged its way across the Gulf of Mexico and was setting down at Cozumel's new jetport.
In his party were Bob Hoag of Columbus, Ohio, insurance executive and long-time personal friend, John Montgomery, and Putnam Pierman. Montgomery lives in Fort Lauderdale, and is president of a company which stages major golf tournaments. Pierman lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is a business partner of Nicklaus.
George Hommell of Islamorada arranged the trip. Hommell is one of the all time great skiff guides in the Florida Keys. But he hung up his pole a few years ago to start a combination travel agency and tackle store specializing in customized equipment.
I was on a busman's holiday to do some snorkeling with my 18- year-old daughter, Amy. The waters around Cozumel are gin-clear and offer some of the finest diving in the hemisphere.
Nicklaus invited us to fish with his party at Cozumel and later at Pez Maya, a camp sixty miles to the south. Pez Maya features light-tackle angling for tarpon, snook, bonefish, permit, and cubera snapper. Expert angler Al Pflueger of Miami also joined us.
Nicklaus stepped out of his private jet into the blazing midday sun and immediately inquired, "Which way are the fish?"
It had been a long time between strikes for him and he was eager to get on the water. He anxiously toyed with a wide-brimmed planter's hat while Customs and Immigration men did their work. By the time young hotel owner Mauro Gonzales had everyone in the Nicklaus party settled into their rooms, it was the middle of the afternoon.
Frequently, I see Nicklaus' sport-fishing cruiser Golden Bear at fishing tournaments in the Bahamas. I asked him if he was interested in tournament fishing.
"I find fishing and tennis very relaxing," he said. "Since they're hobbies, I'm not interested in doing either of them competitively."
The boat Ligia Maria with Captain Abraham (Spider) Delgado was warmed up and ready to go when we arrived at the marina.
Characteristic of fishermen everywhere, Nicklaus and his companions kept up a constant verbal attack on one another's angling prowess. The skipper and Rubin, the mate, were thoroughly amused by the abuse being hurled by the "loco gringos."
Fishing was done on the west side of the Yucatan Channel; at times we were only a few hundred yards off the beach. Inshore waters are so clear that you can easily see the bottom in 30 to 40 feet of water. Offshore, the shades of blue and green are intense, and as beautiful as I have seen anywhere.
The surf pounds onto unspoiled beaches which stretch as far as the eye can see. This surf also holds some exciting fishing which we sampled later in the week. A neat row of coconut palms rims the white sand beach.
This area of the Yucatan looks for all the world like a South Seas island paradise—the kind you see on a late-night movie in which Dorothy Lamour runs barefooted down the beach, chased by Bob Hope... or was it Bing Crosby?
The Mexican government says the Yucatan Channel is 12 miles wide. Skippers who run it give you varying distances up to 18 miles. From Cozumel island you can see the mainland on the horizon. The peak of the fishing season in the channel is March to mid-July, give or take a few weeks. During the early part of the season there is a brief run of giant bluefin tuna. Sailfish, bonito, dolphin, barracuda, red snapper, kingfish, and grouper are plentiful, and at times the channel seems alive with magnificent blue marlin.
This is the area where on Friday, April 13, 1973, Bill Pate of Islamorada used a 7-inch white streamer fly on a single 4/0 hook to land a 54-pound 8-ounce sailfish on a fly rod. He was fishing with Captain Jose Cruz on the Gloria Luz II.
Strong currents and high winds can quickly churn the channel into an angry foam. Yet the fish continue to strike. Light-tackle fishing abounds.
Actor William Conrad proved this on May 23, 1972, when he boated a 62-pound 4-ounce sail- fish on threadlike 6-pound-test line.
It was the light-tackle fishing that lured Nicklaus to Cozumel. En route to the fishing grounds, he demonstrated the fly rod double-haul technique to Put Pierman despite the fact that the Ligia Maria was rocking in a moderate, choppy sea and gusty afternoon trade winds.
The first time I met Nicklaus was outside the golf shop at Marco Island, Florida. He wasn't practicing his putting—he was giving a casting demonstration to Bob Hope. The two were taking part in a benefit for the Sport Fishing Institute, of which Nicklaus is a director.
The thing that impressed me most about Nicklaus at Marco was the skill with which he used fly-fishing, spinning, and plug-casting equipment; he was consistently hitting the targets with all three types of tackle. Obviously the reflexes, timing, and other physical qualities that have made him a great golfer also make him better than average with fishing tackle.
That afternoon out of Cozumel, Bob Hoag broke the ice with a sailfish that put on such a show of jumping and tail-walking that it had everyone aboard whooping with excitement. Pierman put the hook to a frisky sail and whipped it despite a malfunctioning reel. His fish and Hoag's were released unharmed.
John Montgomery then boated a dolphin and this provoked a cascade of comments about Nicklaus' failure to catch anything. With style befitting a champion, Nicklaus promptly squelched the verbal assault by hooking a sailfish on 12-pound-test spinning line.
At one point in the battle, the fish took us within 50 yards of the beach. The boat was gently rising and falling with the swells, and the water was so clear it gave the false impression that the boat was going to touch bottom. At this moment the sail came swimming past the boat. We were all treated to a rare and exciting view. We could see the leader trailing from one corner of its mouth...every movement of the sailfish was clearly visible.
As we watched the fish swim silently by, there was one distressing sign—a thin trail of red streaming from one gill. The fish was hooked deep and it was bleeding. As if reading our collective minds, Rubin said, "Muerte." The fish was dying. But it wouldn't go to waste, it would be used for food. The boat crews out of Cozumel are well-trained in the release of gamefish, and they will insist on releasing any gamefish that isn't going to be eaten or mounted.
There are serious anglers who look with disdain on using a gaff for a sailfish. Such a handsome and game battler is entitled to the one last chance afforded when an attempt is made at bill-gaffing—taking the fish by hand. Using a steel gaff on a sailfish is akin to a matador whipping out a .44 magnum to dispatch a fighting bull. I don't know where bill-gaffing of sails came into being, but it clearly marks the confidence and skill of a crew. So I watched with more than a little interest to see how Rubin would handle Nicklaus' sailfish. In the finest angling tradition, he deftly grabbed the bill with his gloved hand. I couldn't refrain from shouting, “Olé, Rubin!"
In four action-packed hours, forty sailfish were raised, there were seventeen strikes, and four fish were caught. In addition, a number of dolphin were boated.
Later we rehashed the events of the day at the hotel where a unique dining room is built out over the water. One of the pleasures of visiting Cozumel is having dinner late at night and watching schools of tarpon milling in the lights below. We tossed bits of bread into the water and schools of bottomfish quickly churned the surface to a foam as they battled for the morsels we had donated.
The remainder of the week was spent at Pez Maya. The one-hour flight is made by small plane, and you are treated to a spectacular view of some Mayan ruins. Pez Maya manager Mike Gonzales met us at the dirt strip and looked after us all week, making certain we got to sample all types of fishing available in that area to the angler.
Al Pflueger showed his expertise by catching the first cubera snapper (19 pounds) in the surf on a blasting plug. Amy and I took sixteen bonefish the first day while Nicklaus had a couple of near-misses with permit on a fly rod.
Before the week was out, cuberas up to 36 pounds were caught, snook up to 25 pounds, and a number of bonefish and permit. Many tarpon were jumped at night on lures cast into the inlet not far from the camp.
With the possible exception of Al Pflueger, no one at Pez Maya fished any harder or had more fun than Nicklaus.
I was amazed when I got up at 5 o'clock one morning and went out to start surfcasting in the predawn darkness. There was Nicklaus, waist-deep in the surf and busy casting. He already had beached one snook.
When the first light of dawn began brightening things up, I could see Pflueger farther down the beach. "You two spend the night out here?" I asked.
"No, but if you want to catch fish, you have to get out early," Nicklaus said.
After three hours in the pounding surf, we headed up the beach to breakfast.
"Jack, why don't you write a book entitled, How To Relax Between Trips To The Bank?" I said, as we slogged along in the soft sand. "Why don't you write it and sign my name to it," he answered, "and I'll go fishing.”