Posted on 10/15/2007 2:25:19 AM PDT by jsh3180
DESTIN – Adlee Bruner’s fishing story is about the big one that didn’t get away.
Bruner and five friends headed out Saturday morning on a charter boat, hoping to catch some grouper to enter in the annual Destin Fishing Rodeo.
Instead, Bruner landed a gargantuan 844.4-pound mako shark, setting a new record for the decades-old tournament.
“It was tense,” Bruner, 47, said about the fight to land the 11-foot shark with a mouthful of huge teeth. “I’ve fished for 40 years. I’ve never see one that big.”
Bruner and his fishing buddies were on the 52-foot charter boat “Twilight” with Capt. Robert Hill of Destin and deckhand Eric Hayles.
"We were precisely 70 miles southwest of Destin,” Hill said. “In beautiful blue water. It was about 280 feet deep.”
The fishermen first noticed the big mako because it kept eating grouper and scamp they had hooked.
“I told them to bring up their rigs,” Hill said.
When the rigs came up, the big shark surfaced just behind the boat.
“A huge shark,” Bruner said.
“That was an incredible sight,” Hill said. “You sort of run around not knowing what to do, it was so big.
“It was like ‘Jaws.’ ”
Hill hooked a two-foot amberine on as bait and tossed it out. The rig included a stout fiberglass rod and a Shimano PLD 50 reel custom built at Destin’s Half-Hitch Tackle, with 100-lb. test line and a steel leader.
About 10 minutes after the bait was in the water, at 12:20 p.m., the shark hit about 200 feet from the boat, and the fight was on.
“He went to the bottom for about 30 minutes,” Hill said of the shark. “(Then) it just decided to come up to the surface.”
Bruner was not strapped in to a chair as he battled the huge fish.
“I was standing up the whole time,” he said.
When the shark surfaced, Hill backed the boat up to it. That is when things got tense, Bruner and Hill said.
“My deckhand (Hayles) was the most courageous of all,” Hill said. “He reached out there and gaffed him. He’s the one who knew the fish wasn’t worn down. He’s tough.”
“He went crazy,” Bruner said of the shark. “It was a fight.”
At one point the rope attached to the gaffe wrapped around the boat’s rudder and began to fray. But after 10 minutes they were able to get another rope around the shark’s tail.
“Once we had the tail roped, we had him,” Hill said. Still, it took about an hour for the fish to succumb.
But then a challenge arose.
“We couldn’t get him in the boat,” Bruner said. “We tried for about an hour, but we couldn’t pick him up.”
Eventually, they tied the shark to the stern with three ropes and began the trip back to land.
Hill, who’s been a charter captain since 1985, said his boat ran full out the entire way back, but the journey still took more than four hours to reach Destin Harbor.
The shark was hoisted up at the rodeo before a big crowd. It tipped the scale at 844.4 pounds. After it was gutted, the mako still weighed 638 pounds – breaking the tournament’s previous shark division record by 338 pounds.
Bruner said the shark eclipsed the size of any fish he’s ever caught before.
“I’ve caught an 85-pound Warsaw (grouper) before,” he said. “This is a totally different fish here.”
Bruner, who is self-employed from Bruce, Fla., and has fished many other times with Hill, said it’s also likely the only time he’ll ever land and keep a big shark.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time we catch sharks and let them go. (But) it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Hill concurred.
“This is the biggest thing I’ve ever seen or caught myself.
“Basically, when you have good customers who’ve been fishing for something like this for years, you can’t pass it up.
“We normally catch and release all sharks. This was a special occasion just because of the size. And it was a rodeo record.
“There’s people that fish all their lives and never see anything like that.”
I’m posting this because I’m aghast at the killing of this fish for sport. 844 pounds whole, 638 pounds after being gutted. The picture obviously shows this was a huge female pregnant with many pups. This should be against fishing regulations.
This will raise debate no doubt. But was hoping - if only in the world of the redicuouls - that this would be a ‘catch and release’. . .and as much as I fear sharks. . .I respect them as well; and just do not like seeing this grand shark’s ending here.
it’s called the food chain. we are at the top. this fish will be eaten. it won’t simply be tossed out. and it wasn’t caught with dynamite thrown in the water or a 30-06. the guy caught it with fishing line! it was a relatively fair fight and the human won. there are plenty of mako’s out there.
I will agree that most likely the fish will be eaten. Mako is as tasty as swordfish. I live in the Florida Keys, I fish for sport and food. My beef about this catch is the obvious death of perhaps 15 shark pups. We have seasons that are closed for snappers and groupers when they are spawning, I respect that ruling. A huge shark about to give birth should have been released, that’s my opinion.
What were the guys who were fishing supposed to do, say "gee - this big guy is going to eat our bait and everything we catch, let's just all go home and forget about fishing today?
I wonder if people who can afford shark skin boots / belts and other garments made from shark skin ever realize where it comes from, and Mako is very good eating.
not to mention all the study scientist will probably get from it
I have to agree on this one. A pregnant female should have been released.
And, if it doesn't, how does one assume it is "obviously" a big female with many pups???
And Mako is, in my opinion the best eating Shark of the many varieties out there.
PING!!!
BTW, how’s the blackfishing this year?
Well said. This place used to be conservative
You know, they have some openings at PETA if you hurry. It is people like you and cricket that dilute the conservative gene pool.
Primarily for sport, but you don’t gut a fish for fun. I suspect this fish became shark steaks in someones (or several someones’) coolers for consumption.
Shark Steak is one of those delicacies I truly love, but don’t get very often.
I am curious - is this the right time of year to be so pregnant? And is it certain that this shark wasn’t just extremely full from eating all the fishermen’s bait and grouper catches?
8 oz. per person shark steak
3 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. honey
Dash of fresh lemon juice
Pepper to taste
Mix ingredients for sauce. Baste the shark steaks. Place over hot fire. Grill on one side 4 minutes. Turn and baste. Grill for about 4 minutes or until done. Turn only once for best results. Serve additional sauce on the side or at the table. Sauce serves only 2.
Haven’t gotten to the inlet yet. We have had too much going on since school has been back in session.
I’ve never seen a mako this big! Unreal!
Have you been blackfishing this season yet?
Oh please
Yummy!
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