Florida fisherman may have record with 800 pound shark caught in Gulf

[Jesus Malverde]

A Florida man has pulled in an 11-foot, 805-pound mako shark from the shores of the Gulf in what may be a new world record for land-based shark fishing.

Joey Polk from Milton, Fla., spent an hour wrestling the monster onto land last Tuesday night, sometimes with almost 900 yards of line pulled out of his reel.

The mako is the fastest of all sharks and can swim at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, and Polk said he now knows that is the truth.

"She was pulling line out of my reel at easily 60 miles and hour. We call that 'smokin' the drag' round here," said Polk who already holds one land-based shark fishing record.

&quot The reel) has 60 pounds of drag on it, it's amazing that these fish can pull it out," Polk said, adding that a person can barely pull out the line by hand.

"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.

Polk's shark is set to beat out the previous land-based shark fishing record held by his cousin Earnie, who caught a 674 pound mako in 2009.

Read More: http://www.sfgate.com/hunting-fishing/article/Florida-fisherman-may-have-record-with-800-pound-5418081.php

[Scootaloo]

1. What a waste of a perfectly good shark

[Jgarrick]

4. Not if they eat it....

[Scootaloo]

5. You wouldn't want to eat an 800 pound shark

Much less one that's been sitting in the bed of a truck for a while. A combination of high mercury levels, and the fact that shark flesh gets poisonous unless cleaned and chilled quickly.

That fish was more good to everyone doing its thing as an apex predator, than dying so some yee-haw dumbfuck could get his picture in the paper for killing it.

[zappaman]

14. I agree.

Kinda sad to see.

[Doremus]

2. How old is a shark that size? nt

[Scootaloo]

8. The highest recorded age for a shortfin mako is 32 years

The largest on record is a one-ton male from the Mediterranean.

[LeftyMom]

15. If a professional gets hold of the corpse they can check the growth rings on it's spine,

but it's probably going to wind up stuffed and mounted over a bar somewhere.

[Brigid]

6. Makos are listed as "vulnerable."

[pinboy3niner]

10. If I hooked that my first thought would be...

...I shoulda worn my brown pants.

My second thought would be catch and RELEASE!

[Adsos Letter]

11. OK...so he finally hauls it up on shore...

What kind of battle takes place then? Or is the shark too worn down from fighting the previous hour to offer much more resistance?

Hard to imagine it not evolving into some kind of apocalyptic Man-vs-Shark land battle, if only for a short time.

[Archae]

12. Except one of those ate Samuel L. Jackson!

[flvegan]

13. So "douchebag" is genetic, then?

God above, what idiots.

[LeftyMom]

16. Well you know the Gulf is thriving and really doesn't need special care or consideration.

Nothing at all has happened in the last few years to suggest that its' apex predators might be under strain.

You have to picture me eyerolling and facepalming simultaneously for the full effect here.

[reddread]

17. with that much weight in the back

his truck might fishtail.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

18. Ha. He's going to need a bigger truck.

[Sunlei]

19. He just had to kill another mature shark and carry it around in his truck.

Wonder where he dumps them when they start to stink.

[Jesus Malverde]

20. from the article

This is one of only a few sharks Polk and his cousins have not just tagged and released. This one was cooked with a Polk family secret recipe and served for the community, feeding around 200-250 local people.

"We release about 98% of what we catch...we only bring in the ones too injured to swim away," said Polk, who concedes that not everyone agrees with fishing the animals just for sport.

[Sunlei]

21. Can't find anything online where a 'community' was fed, by his name.