Perhaps the greatest sport on the open ocean is that of shark fishing — pitting man against behemoth beasts of the sea with only a fishing line and lure. Some sharks are relatively small, coming in at a dozen pounds or less; others are considerably larger at nearly a ton and must be hunted for with extreme care and large bait. Only a few fisherman can catch sharks given the time and resources necessary for the catches, as well as the lack of profit most sharks fetch compared to tuna, marlin, or salmon. Finding the record shark fishing catches are even trickier, as many fishermen are notorious for over exaggeration, and some catches are lost or destroyed before they can be properly documented. There are a few titans, however, worth the tale.
As with any shark imagery, the first thing to come to mind is the Great White shark, the largest predator in the ocean. Records of the largest great white ever caught are extremely duplicitous given the rarity and extreme difficulty in landing one; however three individual catches stand out. The first is from south Australia in the 19th century, catching a monster at 36 feet and two tons, the second from the eastern coast of Canada at 37 feet, and the world record holder coming in from the Azores — an astounding 42 feet and 4,200 pounds of shark.
Though not as large as a Great White, the Hammerhead shark’s distinct head makes it worthy of mention by itself, and the record of Hammerhead catches are not unimpressive themselves. The world record for Hammerhead catches came from off the coast of Florida, where a fisherman brought in a 15 foot, 1,200 pound female. Part of the reason this shark nabbed the world record is that the female was carrying almost five dozen pups when she was caught.
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