A local fishing guide catches potential world record Hammerhead shark : 14 1/2 ft (4.4m) 1260 lb (571.5kg)
I saw this on CNN late a few nights ago, but didn't know it was here...This happened in Boca Grande pass which is the Tarpon fishing hotspot. For those that don't know, a Tarpon is related to herring. Only it's a herring that grows to over 8ft long and 200+lbs. World famous for a tough fight and incredible aerial acrobatics when hooked. During spring and summer large numbers gather in inshore waters such as inlets and passes to spawn. Consequently, large numbers of big-ass Hammerhead and Bull sharks gather to eat the tarpon. The tarpon fishermen are plagued by sharks ripping their catches to shreds, getting an easy meal of a fish exhausted after a 1 or 2 hour fight with an angler. So this guy, apparently determined to catch a record fish of some type, decides this year to target some of the enormous hammerheads that are a daily scene this time of year in the pass. He spots a big one and a couple of Bulls chasing a hooked tarpon. The fisherman manages to get the fish away from the sharks and this dude, Bucky Dennis, chucks a hooked stingray in the shark's direction, and the hammerhead takes it. Over the next 5 hours, the shark drags his 23 ft flats skiff several miles out into the Gulf of Mexico before finally succumbing. After several attempts to get the shark into the boat, it becomes obvious that doing so is likley to swamp them
, so they tie it alongside and motor in to port. Realizing that they likely had a record, finding certified scales was a must... one problem, no one's got scales that big. They end up loading the shark onto a boat trailer and having to get on the local causeway to use a truck scale
After the weighing and and measuring, the shark was donated to the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium where it'll be dissected, studied, and possibly stuffed.
Don't believe me? :
The shark next to a boat observing the fight
Trying to get the beast onboard
loading the critter on a boat trailer
big mouth
Funny... after living in Sydney my whole life I only just went to the Sydney Aquarium for the first time yesterday and saw some fuck off fish.
The sharks there were massive.... and this bad boy is even bigger!
Amazing some of the things that swim below us when we are boating/skiing, swimming etc
I saw this on CNN late a few nights ago, but didn't know it was here...This happened in Boca Grande pass which is the Tarpon fishing hotspot. For those that don't know, a Tarpon is related to herring. Only it's a herring that grows to over 8ft long and 200+lbs. World famous for a tough fight and incredible aerial acrobatics when hooked. During spring and summer large numbers gather in inshore waters such as inlets and passes to spawn. Consequently, large numbers of big-ass Hammerhead and Bull sharks gather to eat the tarpon. The tarpon fishermen are plagued by sharks ripping their catches to shreds, getting an easy meal of a fish exhausted after a 1 or 2 hour fight with an angler. So this guy, apparently determined to catch a record fish of some type, decides this year to target some of the enormous hammerheads that are a daily scene this time of year in the pass. He spots a big one and a couple of Bulls chasing a hooked tarpon. The fisherman manages to get the fish away from the sharks and this dude, Bucky Dennis, chucks a hooked stingray in the shark's direction, and the hammerhead takes it. Over the next 5 hours, the shark drags his 23 ft flats skiff several miles out into the Gulf of Mexico before finally succumbing. After several attempts to get the shark into the boat, it becomes obvious that doing so is likley to swamp them
Don't believe me? :
The shark next to a boat observing the fight
Trying to get the beast onboard
loading the critter on a boat trailer
big mouth
Funny... after living in Sydney my whole life I only just went to the Sydney Aquarium for the first time yesterday and saw some fuck off fish.
The sharks there were massive.... and this bad boy is even bigger!
Amazing some of the things that swim below us when we are boating/skiing, swimming etc
