Nice catch...
Fla. Angler Lands What May Be Record Shark
BOCA GRANDE, Fla. (AP) - Fishing Capt. Bucky Dennis has beentrying to catch a record hammerhead shark for 10 years. He may havefinally succeeded.
On Tuesday, he reeled in a monstrous 1,280-pounder that ate a25-pound stingray for bait at Boca Grande Pass near Fort Myers.That would beat by nearly 300 pounds the current all-tackle worldrecord for a hammerhead shark.
Dennis, who was using 130-pound test line, and three friendsfought the 14 1/2 foot shark for five hours and it dragged his boatabout 12 miles offshore before they got it aboard.
``It's fun hooking them, but if you get too close, they willbite,'' Dennis said. ``And whatever they bite, they will biteoff.''
The current all-tackle world record hammerhead is 991 pounds,caught May 30, 1982, by Allen Ogle of Punta Gorda, according to theInternational Game Fish Association. The organization is reviewingthe latest catch to determine if it qualifies as the new record, aprocess that will take about 60 days.
The Port Charlotte fishing captain donated the big fish to theCenter for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota,which plans to have it mounted and displayed. Center directorRobert Hueter said researchers prefer that people tag and releaselarge sharks because they help sustain the species.
``But we are grateful that this animal has been donated toscience. It will help us understand more about these animals,''Hueter said.
The largest shark ever hooked was a 2,664-pound great whitecaught off the southern coast of Australia in 1959.
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