Posted on 08/28/2009 6:50:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Scituate man reeled in a 624-pound mako shark Thursday, possibly breaking the record for the biggest male mako ever caught, a biologist said.
“I’ve caught a million sharks before, but never anything this feisty,” said Taylor Sears, 20, a Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior who said he fishes every day of the summer.
Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the 10-foot fish is the largest male mako shark ever to be recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and appears to be the largest male ever caught.
“We didn’t think they got this big, basically,” he said.
The charter fishing boat Sears was working aboard pushed out of Scituate Harbor about 5 a.m. Thursday, carrying a family of four for a day of bluefin tuna fishing. The father hooked a large bluefin at 9 a.m. and struggled with it for about 45 minutes.
Suddenly, a giant shark appeared and chomped the tuna in half.
“When I saw the shark, I said, 'That would be a dream to catch,'” Sears recounted. “So the family let me try.”
Sears said he fastened a larger hook to the line, slid on a chunk of the tuna, and hooked the shark within minutes. Two hours later, they were able to secure the record-breaking fish to the boat and began towing it back.
Sears caught the fish in the southwest corner of Stellwagen Bank, a national marine sanctuary in Massachusetts Bay, about 18 miles east of Scituate.
The charter boat returned to Scituate Harbor at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Skomal arrived in Scituate this morning to run standard tests on the fish.
In 2001, a world-record 1,200-pound mako female was caught in Massachusetts Bay, Skomal said
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
When I saw the 624 pounds and Massachusetts the only thing I could think of was that pant load, Teddy.
Where was that sucker when Teddy Deady was swimming back to his hotel to sleep it off while Mary Jo asphixiated?
The Swimmer reincarnated.
I like to eat shark, but I think when I see this I beautiful animal removed from the sea, I regret that it was caught.
Hmmmmm, Mako shark is the best to eat though.
They’re gonna need a bigger boat!
It probably smelled Teddy!
Ted’s reincarnation didn’t last long.
I hope they didn’t charge the party for the charter, though.
I examined the bite radius of the shark, and it is different than the bite radius on the victim tuna. {;^)
a 624-pound mako shark'round these parts, we would call this 'bait'. ['Civ, who can't really substantiate that remark]
Yes we did.
And furthermore since the biologists realized it was the largest MALE mako they had ever heard of, they asked for it to be left intact for a dissection the next morning.(female makos go over a thousnd pounds) We talked the charter into leaving it intact for the biologists.
We put it in a tuna bag, iced it down and the biologists (state and Federal) dissected it yesterday morning while I was out fishing.
The stomach contained 2 dissolved stripers, some tuna meat , and some dissolved heavy monofilament fishing line.
The charter filmed the tuna fight and the mako attack on the tuna, and then filmed my mate Taylor fighting the mako. They said they would send me a disc with the film footage on it. - Tom
Freepers are everywhere. - tom
Wow..nice catch.
Yes, the makos can keep stripers, but we must put stripers back in Federal waters. - tom
Every, and I mean every undersized red snapper or grouper that goes back in the gulf waters I fish is eaten within 4 feet.
And furthermore since the biologists realized it was the largest MALE mako they had ever heard of, they asked for it to be left intact for a dissection the next morning.(female makos go over a thousnd pounds) We talked the charter into leaving it intact for the biologists.
We put it in a tuna bag, iced it down and the biologists (state and Federal) dissected it yesterday morning while I was out fishing.
The stomach contained 2 dissolved stripers, some tuna meat , and some dissolved heavy monofilament fishing line.
The charter filmed the tuna fight and the mako attack on the tuna, and then filmed my mate Taylor fighting the mako. They said they would send me a disc with the film footage on it. - Tom"
Well, it does sound like they had a very exciting charter, so I imagine they are thrilled. I hope they come again. That was one hell of an exciting day. Congratulations!
Considering the fish is the largest male mako ever caught, maybe the video will find its way to some TV fishing shows. I hope so.
So, does the fact that there were stripers in the mako's belly mean that the thing was in relatively shallow waters at some point?
I was once in Scituate Harbor for a day, close to 20 years ago, or maybe more than that, a very pretty little town, as I recall. It looked as if there was quite a bit of current in places in the harbor, but my memory is a little dim.
Are those Yamahas yours?
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