Posted on 09/25/2007 8:17:54 PM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
LAGLER BEACH, Fla. -- A man standing on a Central Florida beach reeled in a 12-foot, 5-inch, 550-pound great hammerhead shark, likely the biggest catches ever made in the area.
"I'm still in shock at the size of this fish," angler Dan Ficochello said. "I'll never catch one bigger than that. That's a catch of a lifetime."
Ficochello said he went about 300 yards offshore in his kayak and dropped a baracuda head to the bottom of the ocean floor as bait. He then dragged his line back to the beach and waited for a bite.
Soon, the shark took the line.
Ficocello said the shark put up a ferocious fight, taking the men three hours to bring him to the beach.
"My first thought was, 'What am I going to do with this?' Because it wasn't moving, there was no chance of a release. It was done. I had never seen a shark this big before in person," Ficochello said. "It was a non-stop tug-a-war. I was worn out after an hour."
Others said they were shocked such a big shark was swimming off shore.
"You're swimming and having a good time and something like that could be just a few feet from you," angler Michael Ficocello said. "It makes you think twice. It's their home. You are intruding on their area."
Fighting belt? I would never. The fighting chair with blues is as far as I would go! 550lbs doesn’t do justice in describing to people what these things do in the water!
You sound like you know exactly what I’m talking about as I look at this shark and try to imagine bringing it in on shore. It is hard enough to bring in blues from the surf. As you have experienced, catfish (who behave very much like shark).
No, I wouldn’t even try it.
Now I’m wishing I made fish for dinner. Oh well, back to the kitchen.
ciao!
You must recall the 1280 pound hammerhead caught last year in Boca Grande?
If you go to Mote Marine Lab, in Sarasota, you can see a full size replica of the shark. They used the actual shark to make a mold for the fiberglass display. God, she’s huge!
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/26/Sports/Pending_record_hammer.shtml
That is not a hammerhead shark...
On Sanibel, I like the “Island Cow” and there’s a coffee place across the street...”The Bean”?
wow he would have to be pretty strong for that fish
Hi Ryan,
Have not been to either place. We ususally go to the “Timbers” retaurant by Bailey’s General Store. The owner is a huge Indiana Pacer fan as we are. He is a little nutty and carries this big fake pink flamingo to the Pacer games and is often shown on camera waving it around.
We also like “Matanza’s” and the “The Bridge”. There are a hell of a lot of good eating establishments down there. But like most men, I’m a creature of habit and like going to the same places.
PF
.
There is also a “walking” catfish - from Asia I believe - in Florida
It is large and crawls right up on back lawns on the intercoastal or in the many waterways
It likes small pets
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I’ll have to Google that up
While slinging chum on night bluefish open boats out of Brooklyn, NY I always had a 6/0 set-up with 80#mono and a 12 ft. monel leader at the ready for the occasional large shark.
Great whites were regularly caught from jetties in Australia. Frank Mundus had pictures of this in one of his shark fishing books.
Funny that you mentioned Damian Lewis yesterday, I’m now watching a new show called LIFE (police drama) and he is the star! It’s on NBC Channel 4 here. He has definite red hair too, no Italian/Sicilian in him!
argh. I was going to record it and see if it was worthwhile. Was it any good? You can mail me.
I didn’t mean he was a genetic match for your dad, just those WWII pics of him and Damien Lewis looked similar :=)
Cool, thanks for the tip. We’ve never been in September. This is the first year we don’t have kids to deal with in school, so September is doable. We tried to get a room around Christmas and discovered you need reservations about a year in advance.
Caver,
Keep in Touch. We will be staying at Sunset Captiva Unit #5 next September (2008) from the 13th to the 20th. Maybe you Freepers would like to have a drink or go fishing with us Freepers.
Take Care.
PresidentFelon
(Charlie McFarling)
Indianapolis, IN
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