THE SWELTERING HUMIDITY of Thailand seeps into Rich Hart’s every pore as he contemplates what he has just accomplished. The jet lag, flesh-eating bacteria, and dehydration that Hart suffered to get here don’t matter in this moment. What matters is that he’s standing knee-deep in a river, holding a fat snakehead in full spawning colors. Purple and green shine through its dappled, striped flanks.
After weighing the fish with certified grips—14 pounds 2 ounces—he holds out the snakehead again for a final photo. There’s not much danger to the air-breathing river-dweller, so one more snapshot seems appropriate before letting his world-record fish swim away.
Then Hart washes the slime off his hands in the muddy river, and makes another cast.
THE TRAVELER
“Everything in the jungle wants to kill you,” says Hart in his breakneck British accent. “But it’s the smallest things that end up getting you.”
Most of Hart’s days are spent in his Orlando office, where the 54-year-old works as an art appraiser known for his attention to detail. But Hart frequently puts his business—and his life—on the line to pursue record fish in the jungles of Southeast Asia. A few years back, flesh-eating bacteria almost claimed his leg. Then he was nearly stranded in Malaysia during the