It was May 11, 2011, and sixteen members of the Burnt Store Anglers gathered for the beginning of their training to become certified judges for the Guy Harvey Ultimate Shark Tournament. This tournament would begin in our marina. Each boat fishing in the tournament was required to have one judge on their boat to certify that the catch was properly identified, measured and photographed before it was tagged and released. All the members of the Anglers were a little nervous as the national news media sent teams to join the training, and there would be several camera boats following the teams. The N.Y. Times sent its sportswriter along with many local news outlets. The staff of Mote Marine Shark Lab were going to be our trainers. Since all the trainers also have lectured in major universities, we were about to get a great experience.
The training began with showing the trainees a picture of a big shark. We were asked to identify the shark. Of the Burnt Store Anglers, only two got the correct answer. It was a five-gill shark. Suddenly, all in attendance refocused and knew they were about to learn a great deal about Apex Predators. The training included shark identification, handling, measuring, setting up the correct tackle, shark hook removal safety, and just about anything you can imagine about shark fishing. At the very end of a long day of learning, the Mote Marine Staff presented each Burnt Store Angler, who participated in the training, with a beautiful certificate of certification.
The next morning, most of the newly trained judges were assigned to a fishing team to carry out their judging responsibilities. At 6 a.m., the horn was sounded and the teams shot off to their special fishing spots. At 6:30 a.m., the marine radio began to crackle, and the first shark was reported caught just several hundred yards outside the marina entrance. It was identified as a small lemon shark. Later that morning, about six of the tournament boats began reporting that boat 8 had hooked a giant shark in eight feet of water, and the team was working hard to get the shark to the boat. The judge on the boat called the Tournament Boat to get the camera boat and research boat out to the coordinates he presented. They also said to get Mote Marine out to the area as soon as possible. Everyone was really getting curious until one of the stand-by boats got on the radio and gave the following information. “The shark has been identified. It is a 14-foot great Hammerhead, possibly a new all tackle world record.” After many hours of fighting that fish, it was finally tail roped alongside the boat. It was much bigger than 14 feet and the Burnt Store Angler Judge on board that tournament boat went to work carefully applying all the proper measurements.
Since this tournament was a catch and release tournament, the crew wanted to be sure that the fish was not harmed and would survive its release. They were directed by the tournament research team to keep it alive, as the lab at Mote Marine was sending its top scientists down to deal with this rare fish.
With their trip down to our marina troubled with traffic, by the time they arrived the fish had died. Everyone was very upset. Upon arrival, the Mote team made arrangements for the fish to be transported to their lab for official. measurements and research. Later that evening it was announced to have weighed 1,262 pounds, a new world record caught on rod and reel, here in our backyard, Charlotte Harbor. Captain Bucky, as he is known, was the new holder of a certified world record shark.
Later that evening it was announced to have weighed 1,262 pounds, a new world record caught on rod and reel, here in our backyard, Charlotte Harbor.
The boats judge was highly complimented for implementing all the required procedures. The fish is now mounted and hanging over the interior entrance to the Mote Marine Laboratory.
Anyone interested in a local shark fishing trip here in Charlotte Harbor? Be sure to leave your spinning rod at home in favor of a rod and reel certified as an IGFA 80 to unlimited class designed rod and reel.
Tight Lines
