iStockphoto / Ryan Cake
A groom-to-be will never forget his bachelor party in Florida after he landed a 15.5-foot hammerhead shark, one of the biggest sharks we’ve ever seen caught in Florida, while fishing with legendary captain Mark the Shark who specializes in ‘Monster Fishing Charters’ on Florida’s East Coast.
Mark the Shark has been catching some of the biggest sharks in Florida for decades. He’s a captain based out of Pompano Beach, Florida just north of Lauderdale and he’s extremely well known in the Florida fishing community, albeit a bit of a controversial figure with some due to often harvesting the sharks in lieu of catch-and-release fishing.
This epic 15 foot hammerhead shark was brought back to the dark and much of the comments on Instagram and Facebook are ‘why did you kill it?’ and to that Mark’s response is this shark, and all of the others he’s kept in recent years, are donated to local homeless shelters as free meals/fresh fish.
Here is the moment this shark came boat side:
Mark the Shark later shared this video and an additional photo of his son posing with the massive 15 foot hammerhead shark. As mentioned above, the shark was harvested so if seeing caught/kept sharks is a trigger for you then you may want to stop scrolling:
Once local news got wind of this epic catch they evidently sent a team out to speak with Mark the Shark about the massive hammerhead:
According to NBC Miami, this hammerhead shark weighed an estimated 1,200 pounds. Angler Bob Takacs was fishing with friends on his bachelor party and he’s the one who caught this hammerhead which is truly one of the biggest we’ve ever seen caught in Florida and I’m a born-and-raised Floridian.
The groom told NBC6 “I was not expecting it to be at the end of that line.” Obviously. Nobody expects to catch a hammerhead shark that weighs over 1,200 pounds and has enough meat to feed a homeless shelter for weeks.
While Mark ‘The Shark’ Quartiano often makes headlines for keeping massive sharks. He’s also believed to have tagged and released more sharks than any other captain in the state of Florida and possibly the world. So it’s not as if every hammerhead or mako that makes it to his boat hits the dinner table, in fact it’s quite the opposite.
As for the regulations surrounding great hammerhead sharks, they are a protected species in Florida. However, if they are caught in international waters they may be harvested.