Fly-fishing legend Billy Pate died Monday in a Homestead nursing home after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 80.
Pate, an Islamorada resident, held the world record for the largest tarpon caught on fly rod for nearly 20 years — a 188-pounder on 16-pound tippet in Homosassa in 1982. He also was the first angler to catch all six of the world’s billfish species on fly rod.
source: Miami Herald