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Tag: mako shark

  • Mako Shark Weighing Over 800lbs Caught In Florida

    When Joey Polk reeled in the catch of a lifetime, he thought he might be able to keep it a secret until he got it back home.

    Polk caught the monster fish from land and it took him an hour and a half to get it to shore. The shark pulled out 2,700 feet of line during the struggle, and caused Polk to wonder if he was going to be able to get the giant in at all.

    Once he got it to shore, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The fish was a rare mako shark and was over 11 feet long.

    “When I saw it, I knew it was a big fish. I’ve been fishing since I was a little kid, but I thought it was maybe 700 pounds or so, then when we weighed it, it came in at 805! It was amazing,” said Polk.

    He placed the 805 pound mako shark in the back of his pickup truck, where he thought it would be well hidden. When he stopped for gas on his way home, the gigantic shark drew in a crowd of interested and curious people and his secret was out of the bag. One of the onlookers took a photo and uploaded it online where it quickly went viral.

    The fish is the largest mako shark catch on record. The previous record was held by Polk’s cousin, Earnest Polk. The Polk family catches sharks often and usually releases them. Polk chose to keep the 805 pound mako because it was injured too badly to be released. He shared it as a meal with friends and family.

    The Polk family has a secret fishing spot where they catch giant sharks often, but they refuse to reveal the location. Joey Polk and the rest of his family hope to catch even bigger sharks in the future and enjoy competing with each other for the record.

    What do you think of the huge shark?

    Image via Twitter

  • Mako Shark Landed in Gulf May Break Record

    Ernie Polk and his cousin Joey Polk landed a shortfin Mako shark off the Floridian Gulf Coast while surfcasting Tuesday, and the fish might be a world record catch. The two spent over an an hour reeling in the 11-foot-long, 805 pound beast directly onto shore, and didn’t disclose the exact location to ward off other fishermen.

    Ernie Polk commented to the The Pensacola News Journal, “That’s probably the best fish we ever caught.” The cousins already hold a combined three world records from the International Land-Based Shark Fishing Association. Ernie Polk captured his first shortfin Mako world record in 2009, reeling in a fish that weighed 674 pounds, at just over 11 feet long. In 2010, Polk landed a 10-foot-9-inch tiger shark that weighed in at 928 pounds, only to have his record beaten the following month by cousin Joey, who caught a 12-foot-9-inch tiger shark weighing 949 pounds.

    The shortfin Mako shark, or Isurus oxyrinchus, which means”sharp nose,” is the fastest of all sharks, and can swim at a sustained 25 miles per hour. They are also high jumpers, sometimes leaping up to 30 feet out of the water, making them highly sought after as game fish. Mako sharks are also prized for their meat, which is commonplace in supermarkets in the northeastern United States. The present world record of an offshore catch of a Mako is an 11-foot-long, 1,323 pound specimen caught off of Huntington Beach, California.

    Here is a clip concerning the record catch:

    The Polks typically release the sharks they catch, but in the case of the Mako, the fight to reel it in had left it too exhausted to swim back out to sea. The Florida cousins loaded the fish into the back of a pickup, and drove it home.

    After clearing some legal paperwork, they plan to sell the meat at market. Ernie commented, “It’s a $10-per-pound fish at the fish market. It’ll sell right along with tuna and swordfish. Between all of us, there won’t be a bit wasted.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons