Anglers participating in a cobia tournament recently off Destin, Florida, were off to a successful start when they landed a 40-pounder. But they forgot all about cobia as soon as one of the crew spotted a massive mako shark cruising along the coast at a depth of only 15 feet. A live bait was cast, and the hungry shark swirled immediately and devoured the offering. The two-hour battle, with Randy Messer handling the rod, featured more than a dozen acrobatic leaps.
The shark, hooked on 60-pound-test line 30 yards beyond the surf, towed the 40-foot vessel–the Sure Lure–nearly two miles offshore. “It was pretty impressive watching a 700-pound shark clear the water like that,” said skipper Don Dineen said. “It was doing flips and everything.”
Securing the shark, with a gaff and tailrope, was a task that required the assistance of a veteran deckhand from another boat: Blake Bridges.
Because the shark had to be towed to port, the voyage lasted five hours. The mako was fork-lifted onto the Fishing Fleet Marina dock in the darkness and weighed 720 pounds, impressive enough to attract a crowd of about 300 onlookers. READ ON………