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

Details emerge after image goes viral; 805-pound shark was caught from shore

April 20, 2014 by Pete Thomas

Roger Hunter tries to be inconspicuous while filling up with a giant mako shark in his truck; photo by West Calhoun

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 Roger Hunter 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.

�That�s probably the best fish we ever caught,� Earnie Hunter said. �You�ll spend many, many hours to catch a fish of that caliber, or a fish of that size.�

The International Land-Based Shark Fishing Association, which encourages catch and release and accepts tape measurements with estimated weights, recognizes a 674-pound mako caught by Earnie Hunter in 2009 as the current record. Earnie and Joey also teamed to make that catch.

For the sake of comparison, the largest mako caught on rod and reel from a boat weighed 1,221 pounds, according to the International Game Fish Association. That catch was in 2001 off Massachusetts.

Presumably, the Hunters hoped to keep news of their latest catch quiet because the shark-conservation movement has become so vocal in recent years. Sharks are slow to reproduce and vulnerable to overfishing, and many species are believed to be in steep decline.

The image was shared nearly 3,000 times, and while many of the comments were critical of the Hunters, some were in support of the anglers. Fishing for mako sharks off Florida, after all, is not illegal.

The Hunters 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 Hunter said. �It sells right along with tuna and swordfish. Between all of us, there won�t be a bit of it wasted.�

wish i caught that mako, a mako from the beach would rank up there with a giant bluefin on stand up gear.

lol the real stx

Stop with the denials already � the jig is up!

I have that same Abu Garcia reel, btw.

Roger, there for a minute I thought you'd found the Fountain of Youth!

While we're discussing impossibilities, how's that time machine / teleporter working?

Ed

i kind of looked like that 30yrs ago.

Ah, an enabler!

maybe more like this 15 yrs ago.

or like this last yr

or this

Well, all that�s really impressive, for sure. Now I�m inclined to believe there are some folks in N. Florida pretending to be you.

And ya gotta love this quote,

�That�s probably the best fish we ever caught,�

Now that I see part of your portfolio I have a better understanding of why you qualified that comment.

a long time ago

We're going to need a bigger cooler.

Um, yeah, I don�t have that reel. What is it, a winch off your truck?

penn 16/0