FORT SMITH – Seventeen-year-old Arkansas resident Nicholas Looper recently received word that a he’s the newly certified holder of the International Game Fish Association’s all-tackle and 20-lb. tippet categories in the fly-fishing division for an 88 lb. 4 oz. Galapagos shark he caught last summer, while fishing with his father near Midway Atoll in the South Pacific. Looper said he fought the fish for 3½ hours.  
 
The IGFA world record certificates are only the latest additions to Looper’s fly-fishing honors. He’s been an angler since age 3, and an accomplished fly fisher since age 11. He won a fly-fishing derby as a 12-year-old on Dry Run Creek near Norfork River, with a 19-inch trout. Beginning at 13, he started piling up fly-casting tournament awards. At 14, he became the youngest member of the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team, which consists of seven of the best youth fly fishers in America. The team won a silver medal in competition with 14 other international teams. Last October, the Southern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers selected Looper as Junior Fly Tier of the Year. He is currently a fly-casting instructor for The Woodsman in Fort Smith.