Thrill Seekers Catch Record-Breaking Shark

Bopper · Jun 5, 2013

We will be working together to find out more about mako sharks...

I love it when "sportsmen" try to find a reason to legitimize their otherwise pointless actions.

STORY

Thrill Seekers Catch Record-Breaking Shark

Fishermen caught an unprecedented 1,323.5-pound shark off the coast off Southern California Monday afternoon.

“Any time you’re dealing with an apex predator at a food source, its frightening,” said Corey Knowlton, an associate hunting consultant with The Huntington Consortium who was a part of the team that caught the shark. “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.”

Jason Johnston of Mesquite, Texas, boat captain Matt Potter of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Knowlton, who is the co-host of the hunting show “The Professionals,” caught the short fin mako shark 15 miles away from shore in feeding waters.

The shark measured 11 feet in length and eight feet in circumference.

“It took two hours to reel the shark in,” Knowlton told ABC News. “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 team found 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!’ ”

Indeed it was a big mako.

“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 sheer size of the shark has attracted the attention of researchers in 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.

Marie Levine, the executive director of the Shark Research Institute in Princeton, N.J., questioned what benefits catching sharks has on research.

“Makos are majestic creatures, but they are rare — really, really rare,” she said. “It’s a shame to see such a large animal taken away. There’s no research that we are doing that needs a dead shark. Just by tagging them we can study their behaviors and moments.”

The footage of the shark captured by Knowlton, Johnston and Potter will be released in an episode of the TV show, “The Professionals,” premiering July 1.

drrich2 · Jun 5, 2013

Sounds like now they're a bit more 'really, really rare.' Sad. Thanks for posting. Would've been neat to see it alive.

danvolker · Jun 5, 2013

Bopper:
We will be working together to find out more about mako sharks...

I love it when "sportsmen" try to find a reason to legitimize their otherwise pointless actions.

STORY

See a facebook "campaign" against this

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...25697716.34433.143570335699755&type=1&theater

Dondon462 · Jun 5, 2013

The "Professionals"??..you gotta be kidding me..this is disgusting and should be a serious embarrassment to all involved with that program and on that boat..they just do not get it hey!!...and all their sponsors should do more than blush!!..I hope they get a BIG viewer backlash killing such a beautiful thing..CRAZY!!!!...we don't go on Elephant hunts anymore either!!

MattJ · Jun 5, 2013

Bopper:
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.

Was the fisherman thinking that, or the shark?

fnfalman · Jun 5, 2013

I know that it may be legal and all, but I despise trophy hunting, be it land or water.

If you really, really, really want to feel the thrills of danger by facing a dangerous predators, then sign up at the local recruiting office. Uncle Sam would love to send you overseas to face the most dangerous game of all.

Dr. Lecter · Jun 5, 2013

I get the desire to pit yourself against dangerous game, but this is like hunting wild boar or cape buffalo from a tree stand with a scoped rifle -- the only risk is that you might be dumb/clumsy enough to slip and put yourself in danger. If you want to hunt a shark, give it a sporting chance: jump in a chum cloud with a short thrusting spear and see who wins. At least then it could be a roughly equal contest of skill with both lives at risk, though even then I question whether the shark would really treat a human as enough of a threat/potential food source to be anything more than a sitting duck.

red_instead · Jun 5, 2013

Dondon462:
we don't go on Elephant hunts anymore either!!

Actually, people do, and it's a relatively accepted part of the management process of game reserves/national parks as well as, arguably, a decent revenue generating tool for said parks.

I have really mixed feelings on trophy hunting in general, but there is a place for it. Problem with this instance is that the mako fishery isn't managed as well as it should be, and these guys pulled a huge female that is valuable to the population as a breeder, and the replacement time for that shark as a breeding female is likely upwards of a decade.

danvolker · Jun 5, 2013

From the facebook post I made at www.facebook.com/WILD.DIVING

red_instead · Jun 5, 2013

danvolker:
From the facebook post I made at www.facebook.com/WILD.DIVING View attachment 156597

Sorry, have you seen people posing with the coyotes they've shot? Or wolves?

Pets are a red herring in this argument.

Thrill Seekers Catch Record-Breaking Shark

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