Big Great White Caught from Beach(and released). Worlds largest land based catch !
by Dave Craggen
Biggest catch from a beach in human history!?
This monster shark was caught in September 2016 in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. With a fork length of 357cm and a huge 240cm girth, modern weight calculators put her at a monstrous size of 711kg / 1568lbs. She is certainly one of the biggest sharks ever caught from land, and evidently the biggest catch in human history from a beach. Congratulations to the angler for landing such a beast and treating the shark so professionally. Well deserved.
The angler shared some words:
“I have been targeting large sharks and rays from shore for a couple years now, and I am really fortunate that my hard work eventually paid off, especially so with my last catch. I was fishing near a river-mouth one afternoon for big Bullsharks, hoping to pick one up on its travel in and out the river system as they are known for. Just before dark I hooked one and quickly realised it was a very large shark. Only my fishing partner will believe how I got flung over the sand when I locked my lever drag reel too quickly and nearly lost the whole kit to the ocean.
After an incredibly powerful fight into the night, I managed to pull the shark into a gully a hundred meters down the beach. My fishing partner ran down to hold the leader line until I could get there. I grabbed my landing pouch consisting of a tape-measure, camera, anti-biotics and a specialised de-hooker, and ran down to meet my mate. Upon reaching the shark I could not believe the size of it, I estimated it to be over three-quarters of a ton, which ended up being a good guess. To my surprise it was a Great White Shark, a huge female. These sharks are a protected species, but obviously we had no choice but to handle the shark in order to get her back home. So we took great care in getting her back safely and quickly, as it should be with any shark or ray capture. Luckily she was quite calm in the shallow water which enabled an easy release. Believe it or not, but I felt that she could sense my appreciation for her well-being and resulted in her lying peacefully just looking at me.
So, I quickly popped out the 20/0 barbless circle hook and also removed two rusty large hooks stuck in her jaw with the de-hooker and sprayed some anti-biotics on the old wounds, while my partner measured her. We quickly snapped some pics and within two minutes of reaching her she was being helped back into deeper water. She swam away peacefully into the darkness, minus the old hooks and trailing cable. It was the most amazing experience of my life. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
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