Possible World-Record Mako

[Badger52]

F16 of the sea. Big feller.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) — A group of fishermen may have broken a world record with a huge shark caught off the coast of Huntington Beach.

(The fishermen pose with their possible world-record catch.)

A fisherman named Jason Johnston, from Mesquite, Texas, chartered a boat out of Huntington Beach on Monday.

His group hooked a massive shortfin mako shark about 15 miles offshore.

The shark was 11 feet long, 8 feet in girth and more than 1,300 pounds, according to the fishermen’s estimates.

It took more than two hours and a quarter-mile of line to reel in the shark, according to Johnston.

“It’s unreal. This thing is definitely a killing machine,” Johnston said. “Any wrong step and I could have went out of the boat and to the bottom of the ocean,” he said.

The shark was being taken to a weigh yard in Gardena to be certified by a weigh master.

It was expected to be donated to a research organization for study.

As they waited for news on their possible world record, the fishermen planned to head out again on Tuesday for another adventure.

LINK w/photo

[mark46th]

Wish they wouldn't have killed it. They probably were fishing with Mako Matt out of Huntington Beach. There are a couple of areas of So Cal that are thought to be shark nurseries. 4 small Great Whites have been caught of piers here in the last month or so... The article says it is going to be donated to science. Hope they kept some of the meat, it is as good as Swordfish...

[Badger52]

I agree on both counts. But if it had to be taken and they have no imagination I'd flip the freight for some of those steaks; primo.

Edit to add: Didn't know that about the nurseries. I know there was something when I was a kid that would occasionally take my halibut, off a certain hole off a certain corner of the old Santa Monica pier. Pull, *boink* and the line & fish were gone.