A charter boat captain off the coast of Louisiana got more than he bargained for when taking a couple of customers out to catch some yellowfin tuna recently and wound up hooking a giant mako shark.
After taking on board a couple tunas, the crew snagged a 550-pound mako that put up one hell of a fight, diving out of the water three times before succumbing to the gaff.
Turns out getting the 13-foot long shark onto the boat was more work than catching it. Not to say that either task was easy.
Capt. Peace Marvel of Peacekeepers Charters out of Venice told the Louisiana Sportsman it took about an hour and a half to reel the fish in and two hours to get its quarter ton body in the boat.
Once the monster shark realized it had been hooked it dove at about 65 mph they estimate, spinning and kicking, trying to break the line. Then it leaped out of the water three times. By following in the boat, the team was able to stay on top of it until it came close enough to the boat to throw a gaff.
“Had things gone differently, that fish could have fought for hours upon hours,” Marvel said. “But I paced him with the boat and got right next to him, and I made a reach of a gaff shot and stuck him through the gills and up under the center of his back with the flying gaff. He jumped again and broke the line, but it was too late — he was already on the gaff.”
They dispatched it with a gaff through the eyes and then trailed the big guy by the tail for about an hour to make sure it was dead. To get it in the boat after about an two hours they finally managed to hoist it with a come-along. Back at the sport fishing dock, they had the fish weighed and if the certification stands would be the fourth largest fish caught in the state.
Photo credit: Peace Marvel @Facebook
