Giant mako shark photographed at Florida gas station could set a world record

Florida anglers who had hoped to avoid publicity after catching a giant mako shark from the beach last week might have succeeded had they not stopped for gas on the way home–with the enormous predator spilling from the bed of their pickup truck. News spread not long after West Calhoun, a passerby, sent a photo of the shark to the Pensacola News-Journal.

The News Journal posted the image on its Facebook page, with no details, and the peculiar image was so widely shared and discussed that the newspaper tracked down one of the anglers and, a day later, reported that the catch could set a world record for shore-based fishing.

Cousins Earnie and Joey Polk hooked the shortfin mako in the dark morning hours, on a Gulf Coast beach near Navarre. The apex predator, reeled in with heavy tackle after an hour-long struggle, weighed 805 pounds and measured 11 feet.

Source



The Polks explained that they kept the shark because it had become so weary during the fight, and they did not think it could swim back to sea.

So they trucked the predator home and planned a family feast.

“It’s about $10 per pound at the fish market,” Earnie Polk said. “It sells right along with tuna and swordfish. Between all of us, there won’t be a bit of it wasted.”

Oh yeah.....nice catch!!!!!



[BTW, these 2 guys were the same ones in 2009 that caught one that weighed 674 lbs.]

Never eat the meat of shark ,it seem not tasty.

a reply to: candlestick
Never ate mako, huh? About the best as far as sharks go.

That's a big 'un but the largest caught by IGFA standards is 1,221 #.

I'll bet they wanted to keep it on the down-low. A quick Internet search shows it #10 on the endangered species list.

IIRC, they're also the #4 on the most dangerous list. I don't much care for sharks.

a reply to: Snarl

Sharks are, surprisingly, somewhat delicate. Like many large fish, a prolonged battle can reduce the chance of a successful release to near zero. I've brought more big, dead, marlin to the boat than live ones. Of course, the option is there to cut the line early on but without really knowing what's at the other end, not many fishermen are going to do that. Otherwise, what's the point of fishing?

originally posted by: Snarl
I'll bet they wanted to keep it on the down-low. A quick Internet search shows it #10 on the endangered species list.

IIRC, they're also the #4 on the most dangerous list. I don't much care for sharks.

According to the article, fishing for mako sharks off Florida is not illegal
However, the shark-conservation movement frowns upon killing them due to the fact that many species are believed to be in decline

I was curious about that myself, whether or not they would get in trouble

Must say, I never had shark so I have no comment as far as taste goes


**Should've brought a bigger truck.....LOL**

This video shows what I believe is a 1,300 lb Mako:


The second video is the largest great white ever caught by rod and reel:

In 1986 Frank Mundus and Donnie Braddick caught a 3,427-pound great white about 28 miles off Montauk, and only 18 miles from Block Island, which still holds the record for the largest shark ever caught by rod and reel.

Mako grills up just fine. Only ever caught one...a 200 pounder. One thing is, you should cut the tail-fin off and bleed them out while they are still alive...makes it taste a lot cleaner. Those suckers have some scary teeth. I was not aware they were endangered. Tastes somewhere in between a dodo and a whooping crane.

a reply to: skunkape23
With a hint of baby humpback?

a reply to: snarky412

I hope they have enough carcass left over to provide marine biologists with number of vertebrae and fin length so it can be given an estimated age to go alongside the weight. These big critters aren't thriving and data is always sought after.

Likewise, the accidental evidence of their haul raises the question of how many more of their catches went completely unnoticed and unrecorded? It's red-listed as 'vulnerable' and these big guys aren't being replaced.

That is a stunning beast!!!

An hour long landing sounds like quite the adventure!!!!

a reply to: Phage

Not as greasy.

a reply to: Phage

I used to dive every day in Hawaii after I retired from service. There were two sharks I was afraid of. Tigers ... and the one you couldn't see. We did a blue water dive and some pelagic white tips swam past us in a train. They were so big you could easily mistake them for whales (bigger than books say they get).

I had a bull shark stalk me off Daytona Beach, and my neighbor swears he was bitten by a Mako just to the north of there on Ormond Beach ... but it was more like scratches. The water is pretty murky all the time and most gathers don't even realize how many sharks are right there in the water with them. I don't know if they still do the chartered helicopter rides, but they can be a real wake-up call for anyone who has an irrational fear of the little nasties.

Reality is, the shark you need to worry about is the one who can eat you 'all gone.' Fish in the ocean tend to not leave a lot of debris behind after feeding. In fact, in all the time I spent wet, I can recall only finding remains of a kill once ... a large piece of spine out in the sand between the second a third reef off the west coast of Oahu ... but even that had been picked completely clean.

Shark fin soup is very tasty and Asians love it, they ditch the rest of the shark cause its inedible.
Mercury in sharks that size makes them inedible, horrible amonia smell and taste, better they dumped it in the ocean.

Its a shame that they couldnt cut the line sooner and let it live, hey thats fishing.

a reply to: Snarl

If you read the full article, they usually do not keep their catches. They participate in tag and release for conservation with almost all of them. The only reason they kept this one was because they were pretty sure it was going to die. If you're an experienced angler, you learn the signs.

They actually wanted to hide their catch to keep their honeyhole a secret, not because they were doing anything wrong or illegal. If you are a fisherman, that's understandable. If you get a good spot, you don't want a bunch of other people crowding you out. They can only fish when no one else is swimming, and they only fish at night.

And they are eating it, not stuffing it or throwing it out. Shark is good eating being a firm fish. It's excellent on the grill. We like to marinate ours in a mustard, soy, olive oil mixture and then continue to baste it while it's on.