Hammerhead sharks are one of those weird animals that when you look at them it is just hard to understand how they evolved into such a strange looking creature, but this story is not about the hammerheads looks!

This story is both an interesting and sad one in the world of shark fishing. It is of a giant female hammerhead shark that was caught on May 23, 2006 off of the coast of Florida, out in Boca Grande Pass by Bucky Dennis. This amazing hammerhead shark was was simply huge, it weighed an astounding 1,262 pounds and measured around 14.5 feet long! Which just happened to be a new world hammerhead shark fishing record! Not too shabby for a day of Shark Fishing. I think anyone would love to catch a hammerhead shark of these amazing and record proportions.

The interesting and sad thing about this record shark is that inside of this female hammerhead shark was 55 little hammerhead pups. This was the most pups that any scientist had ever seen. The scientists estimated this massive shark to be around 40 years old, and they said she was just about ready to give birth. It is very sad that these pups never made it to birth, so that they could help with repopulating the hammerhead shark population, but on a good note this amazing shark fishing catch will allow scientists to learn more about this incredible fish and its birth cycle.

Check out the pictures below of this record shark and it’s record setting 55 little hammerhead pups.

As you can see in the previous pictures Bucky Denis is no stranger shark fishing or catching world record hammerhead sharks. Well he has done it again! Check out one of his more recent catches, it is a 1,060 pound hammer head shark that measures just over 13 feet long. This monster fish was caught out in Boca Grande pass, the same place that he caught the above record fish. Boca Grand Pass is a 12 fathom deep pass that is well known for producing really big tarpon and its even bigger record breaking sharks. It is fairly common while fishing for tarpon in the Boca Grande Pass to have your prize catch bitten in half by big bull sharks and giant hammerheads.

Around the same time that the 1,060 pound Boca Grande Pass hammerhead shark was beeing brought in, another angler was battling another huge shark. Angler Fritz Van der Grift was out shark fishing with his father, a friend, and charter captain Greg Bogdan in shallow water just off Singer Island near West Palm Beach, Florida when he hooked a whopper of a fish.

It might not have been a record shark, but this almost 14 foot 1,000 pound hammerhead shark is nothing to scoff at. It took Van der Grift nearly an hour and a half to bring the giant fish up to the boat. Once they got this giant shark up to the boat Van der Grift said they had every intention of releasing the fish, but unfortunately it got injured during the long battle and died before they got it to the boat. The picture below is the only one that I could find of this massive shark.

Shark Fishing

The key to catching sharks can be found in using the right bait and chum also known as ground bait. When it comes to chum, the more the merrier, and the smellier the better. So don’t skimp on the chum when shark fishing.

Sharks for the most part have poor eyesight, but they make up for this by having one of the best senses of smell of any animal. A huge portion of a sharks brain is dedicated to smell and researchers have been able to determine that sharks can find food by smell alone from many miles away.

Some very popular forms of chum for shark fishing is chopped up tuna chunks, tuna oil, small bait fish, and chicken is also good to use. Some people like to blend or mince all of their fish up and then place this mixture into old milk cartons. They then place these milk cartons in the freezer and freeze the mixture for use later. For best results when using chum that is frozen in blocks, I like to use a liquid version as well even though the frozen blocks will slowly melt and leave the desired chum slick. This chum slick, which usually includes mixtures of fish oil and fish bits is added to the slick in a consistent manner. If I am stopped and just drifting in my boat sometimes I will throw the chum directly into the water, but other times I will use a small buck to aid in dispensing the chum in small portions while I am on my way out to my favorite shark fishing spot.

What you need

When shark fishing always use top quality equipment and fishing tackle. Sharks will make short work out of low quality tackle so don’t skimp on the quality of the equipment that you purchase. It will save you money in the long run. Most anglers like to use a 50 to 80 pound mainline with a 200 to 300 pound leader usually made of wire to prevent bite offs. A wind on leader is also a very good idea! The average hook size that I use is usually between 10/0 – 12/0 and strong hooks are a necessity. When targeting smaller sharks you can get away with hooks down to about 3/0 in size. A fighting belt and harness is also a great idea when shark fishing. There is nothing worse than hooking one of these monsters and realizing that you should have brought one.

Bait for sharks

Without wanting to make this sound too simple sharks eat fish. Any fresh fish flesh will do and tuna is one of the most popular baits used. I myself prefer a lot of time to use barracuda as I described in a previous post, but for the most part sharks will eat just about anything.

Well, if you have ever handled a barracuda out of the water on a boat, then you will know why. They have a horrible stink about them. Plus they are very plentiful, bite pretty easily, and there aren’t any fishing regulations on them so you can catch as many as you want to for shark bait. Whenever I am out fishing and I land one of these I always keep it and stick it in my freezer for my next shark fishing trip. Even after being frozen, once these fish are thawed back out their stink will reappear.

Even though these fish aren’t bloody their stink more than makes up for it. Sharks can smell them a mile away. The other day I was fishing in water that was about five feet deep and the tide was going out. I made fillets on each side of the fish, but didn’t cut the pieces completely off the body. Then I hooked the cut up fish bodies on a hook and using a very very long steel leader I threw it off the back of the boat. This method allows them to bleed out and stink up the water. Then the wait begins. That always is the hardest part. Even though sharks are opportunistic feeders, sometimes you just have to be a little patient when shark fishing.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity. Even though it was probably only about twenty minutes for that first bite. Then the fun began! I yanked on pole as my drag started spooling out line, and set the hook. It felt like a monster! Of course they always do, but it was only about a six foot long nurse shark.
A nice fish to catch at the beginning of my shark fishing trip, but no where near a record fish.

So I baited up my line again the same way as I did earlier and cast it out. This time I didn’t have to wait long before what I thought was a big bull shark took my bait. I battled this monster for probably 15 minutes before my line broke and he got away. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I caught about four more small bull sharks before the days ends. Even though I didn’t catch any record shattering sharks on this trip, it was still a heck of a lot of fun! So the next time that you go out shark fishing remember to bring along the barracuda for bait!

Here is proof of this. The largest hammerhead shark that has been caught in Florida was caught by using a 3 foot stingray as bait. Sharks are the ultimate predators of the seas and are not too picky when it comes down to meal time.

If you are fishing for sharks and want to attract them to your boat, dock, pier, or wherever you are fishing, the best way is to use bloody chum. The more blood that is in the water the better the chance you have of getting one of these creatures into the general area. Sharks can smell blood from a mile away.

I remember one time when I was fishing off the local pier. I was not even shark fishing, but was actually snapper fishing. I landed a bunch of snapper that day, and I brought the snapper to the clean up table. After only about 15 minutes of cleaning the fish, there was about an 7 foot hammerhead shark hovering around the pier. It was eating all the remains of the snapper that I was throwing into the water. They seem to love blood, they love dead fish, they love whatever they can get.

One last thing to remember when shark fishing, make sure that you are using a wire leader line. Sharks have many rows of razor sharp teeth and will bite through a regular leader in a heartbeat. If you do land one while shark fishing, take extreme caution when removing the hook from the shark no matter what the size is. It is always better in my opinion to just cut the line. Do not try and get the hook free, cut the line and be done with it for your own safety. Nothing is worth loosing your fingers for, and even a totally wore out shark breathing its last breath can still use the full force of its jaws to sever fingers or remove flesh from the bone. So be careful and take every precaution when shark fishing. That is just some of the basics you need to know when shark fishing in Florida.

An average Mako caught along the east coast of the United States is usually in the 200 to 600 lb. range. With female Mako sharks being heavier, and capable of reaching a maximum weight of around 1,700 lbs. When it comes to length males can reach up to 9 foot fork length and females are capable of reaching a jaw dropping 12 foot fork length.

So now that we know a little bit about the Mako shark, what are some of the Mako shark fishing records?

Shark Fishing With A Rod And Reel

The Largest confirmed Mako ever caught while shark fishing on a rod and reel was taken on July 27, 1999 in Mass. Bay at Stellwagen Bank. In the picture below is Capt. Kevin Scola on the left, and angler Billy Silvia and the 1,324 pound Mako that they brought into their home port of Green Harbor in Marshfield, Mass. When measured this monster had a length of 11 foot 2 inches fork length, and 96 inches in girth. Unfortunately this shark did not qualify as an IGFA record because the fish was fought out of the rod holder.

Current IGFA World Record Mako

The current IGFA World Record Mako was caught it during the July 21, 2001 Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament off of Chatham, Mass. which requires all its participants to follow IGFA rules. This IGFA World Record Mako was caught by Captain Chris Peters, angler Luke Sweeney, and crewmen Doug Abdelnour and Dave Gaffey after a wild 3 hour battle. When this shark was finally brought into port and weighed it was a whopping 1,221 lbs. and broke the record for the heaviest shortfin Mako. Check out the picture below of this monster. If it doesn’t get you motivated to go shark fishing off of the east coast I don’t know what will!

Today, though we are not concerned with what average is, we are looking for world record great white shark fishing stories. So what constitutes a record great white shark? Well most experts contend that the great white shark has a normal maximum size of about 20 feet, and a maximum weight of about 4,200 lb. Any claims much beyond these limits are generally regarded as doubtful, and are closely scrutinized by the scientific community.

When I first came up with the idea of doing my first post on record shark fishing on the great white shark, I figured it would be easy to research maybe the top three biggest world record great white sharks ever caught. Boy was I mistaken. It appears that shark fishing is just like regular fishing. There are a lot of fishing stories and very few facts. So I guess I will give you the stories and you will have to figure out the facts for yourself.

For many decades there have been three great white sharks that many in the shark fishing community along with several publications including the Guinness Book of World Records have cited as the worlds largest. The third largest great white shark was caught in the South Australian waters near Port Fairy in the 1870′s. This shark according to accounts at the time measured roughly 36 feet long. The second largest shark ever caught was trapped in herring weir in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1930′s. It supposedly measured 37.6 feet long. Then we have the world record holder a 41.2 ft monster caught off the west coast of the Azores Islands by a Portugese fishing trawler.

While these extreme sizes were commonly accepted among the shark fishing community, and great whites in the 25 ft to 33 ft were often considered common and credible. So as you can see if I believe the current scientific consensus these sharks can’t get much larger than 21 to 23 feet long. It is kind of sad really if we have these giant sharks on the record list. How are current fisherman who want to break the world great white shark fishing supposed to do that if there isn’t credible numbers. I guess we will have to just hope and dream of that 41.3 ft monster the next time that we go shark fishing!