Posted on 07/10/2017 12:30:06 PM PDT by DCBryan1
TEXAS CITY, Texas (KXAN) — There’s no doubt Tim McClellen will be framing the picture of him with the massive, record-breaking hammerhead shark he caught over the weekend.
McClellen won 1st place when he caught the 1,033-pound shark in the 55th Annual Texas City Jaycees Tackle Time Fishing Tournament on July 9. His catch smashed the 871-pound record set in 1980 in the Gulf of Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxan.com ...
Back in the day I used to go fishing for marlin and sailfish every year out of Mazatlan, Mexico on a 35’ charter. One time we’re cruising back and I climbed up into the tower at the top of the mast with a few bottles of cerveza.
As the tower rocked back and forth over the water, I could see these two huge hammerheads cruising past the boat. I estimated that they were at least 2/3 the length of that 35’ boat. I think Pacific hammerheads are larger.
The Captain said they frequently cruised into the harbor of Mazatlan to hunt among the garbage thrown over by cruise ships.
I wish this magnificent animal could have been returned to the sea.
I’d rather see it in my freezer.
My sister and her hubby have dived in schools of well over a hundred hammerheads. It was an enriching experience. SCUBA enables that. That being said, it’s prolly a good idea to wait until after HH shark din-din is over, if that is detectable. :-)
Don’t be so sure. The Chinese catch and process anything that lives. Sharks have taken an enormous hit over at least the last two decades. However, there are reports of increasing shark populations. I tend to hope in a rebound, but the sea is being raked clean of so many fish species.
I don’t think the Chinese are making much impact on the Gulf of Mexico shark population.
Well, for one thing, one of the hammerheads favorite foods is stingray, which are much greater threats to people along the gulf coast than sharks will ever be.
When I was growing up, the town pretty much ended about two miles from the ocean.
I've been to the Hialeah Race Track dozens of times, but not since the 1980s, when I left the state.
I remember going to the Track with my grandparents in the 1950s, so they must have let kids in at that point in time.
My uncle was a sport fisherman, and he would always charter a boat for a couple days when he came to visit. But, mostly, I did small boat drift fishing over the reefs, and spearfishing on the reefs, and night pier fishing.
I've heard that the southeast Florida coast is almost completely fished out now, except for seasonal fish migrations.
Ira Loveday, a local shark fisherman down here in Corpus has a few stories. In Jaws, the tiger shark that was gutted was modeled after a Tiger that the movie bought off him. But, the real story is Leader Mouth, that’s what he called a giant hammerhead that roamed around here. He never caught it, but said it was 28-30 ft. Crazy, I know, but he said so.
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