A shark catch off the coast of Southern California might be a record. Fisherman caught a giant mako shark weighing 1,323.5 pounds.
Corey Knowlton, an associate hunting consultant with The Huntington Consortium, Jason Johnston of Mesquite, Texas, boat captain Matt Potter of Huntington Beach, Calif., who is the co-host of the hunting show "The Professionals," caught the short fin mako shark 15 miles away from shore where it was feeding. The shark was 11 feet long and eight feet in circumference.
"Any time you're dealing with an apex predator at a food source, it's frightening," Knowlton told ABC. "You are three to four feet away from something with the absolute ability to kill you. When it comes towards you, it comes with the purpose of killing and eating something."
The fisherman spotted the shark by following a trail of birds.
"There's a big, long stream of birds that develop when you're laying bait for sharks that you follow," Knowlton said. "When the birds suddenly lifted up, that's when we started looking. Matt was the first to see it. He got up and started freaking out. 'Big mako!' 'Big mako!'"
Such a large shark required the fisherman to go through a big ordeal to try to reel it in.
"It took two hours to reel the shark in," Knowlton told ABC. "Really, it was Jason who caught it and Matt who is the real genius behind it. He's able to look at the water temperature and underwater structures and see where the sharks are based on how they are feeding."
The shark that they caught may be the biggest ever caught.
"Up until now, the largest shark caught by a sport fisherman weighed approximately 1,121 pounds," said Jack Vitek, the records coordinator for the International Game and Fish Association.
The rare catch had caught the attention of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"We will be working together to find out more about mako sharks, like what they eat, and to create a tagging program so we can monitor other mako shark populations," said Knowlton.
Not everyone is impressed with the catch. Some critics are upset that the shark was killed. David McGuire, director of the California-based protection advocacy group Shark Stewards told the Los Angeles Times that the shark should have been released.
"I'm a little shocked by it," McGuire said. "People should be viewing these sharks as wonderful animals that are important to the ocean and admiring how beautiful they are" rather than "spilling their blood and guts."
The shark catch will appear on the TV show "The Professionals," starting July 1.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
