Saturday, May 27, 2006

The story of a record shark 

This struck me as a pretty interesting tale:
The enormous old shark is on ice now, sitting in a fish house freezer on the Gulf of Mexico. But Capt. Bucky Dennis is still reliving the hours he spent bringing it in, the likely record-breaking catch he had pursued for a decade.

Captain Dennis, a fishing guide in Port Charlotte, caught the 1,280-pound, 14.5-foot hammerhead over nearly six hours Tuesday, during which the shark dragged his 23-foot skiff about 12 miles out to sea. It grabbed his bait, a hefty stingray, around noon in Boca Grande Pass, famous for tarpon fishing.

"When the tarpon come, they come," Captain Dennis, 36, said of the hammerheads that skulk around the pass in May and June, when, for years, he has tried to land a big one. "Each year I learn a little bit more about them."
The rest of the story, by Abby Goodnough in today's NY Times, continues to fascinate.

Update: Pics, and more from Saltwater Sportsman. Thanks to John Jasina for the link.

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permalink posted by Skip Sauer @ 5:51 AM