Stumbled across some old pictures of sailfish fishing trip where we caught a Hammerhead Shark. Trip was in the early 2000's just offshore Miami, FL. It took us 45+ minutes to get it to the boat and 3 of us took turns on the fight. We had no idea what it was until we finally got it to the surface near the boat. I tell the story occasionally and get some skeptical reactions - thought the wisdom of the OB could help me ground truth some of the facts as told to us by the boat captain/guide.

1. Shark would have been a tackle record fish if 1 person would have fought it the entire time (we switched off). We were after sailfish so line, and I think leader (?), was mono (dont remember line weight).
2. It was miracle we actually got it to the boat. The line could have easily been cut just by the hide of the shark, nick by the tail etc.
3. It weighted around 400 pounds.
4. Hammerheads were very rare in those waters.

Fire away.

Other pictures of the fish we were after... Funt Trip. 1st day was almost a dead calm which the captain said was BAD for fishing - were were using outriggers and sails for outside rigs and had to add helium balloons to keep them up. 2nd day was normal breeze and that is when we caught the most fish.

A few observations:

- That shark does not look like it weighs 400 lbs. Also- greater hammerheads get WAY bigger than that.

- Why would this have been a record? Are you talking about an IFGA record due to line size?

Quite a catch on popping corks and shrimp. Why are the popping corks tied upside down on the line?

Captains tell fish stories. Cool catch, but I think the Captain inflated the stats. They do that to give you good stories to tell and for advertising. My guess is that it weighs closer to 175-200 lbs.

It is really surprising that you got it in the boat! Someone here might know the record the Captain was talking about. Don't hammerheads migrate?

Looks like a great day of fishing!

Am I the only one that read the OP and then scrolled back up to make sure it wasn't Barnes/Barnes sock?

They get much larger than the one y'all caught. Not that uncommon, but a cool fish to catch.

I believe he is talking about a record for that lines strength. Like fly fishing tippet etc

TRIDENT said:

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They get much larger than the one y'all caught. Not that uncommon, but a cool fish to catch.

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Texas City looks different than I remember...

Cool catch but hammerheads aren't remotely uncommon off Miami.

Did 2 years at U Miami with a lot of diving from Delray down to down the keys. Shark population is down but there used to be a 10 foot hammerhead that would regularly cruise Pennecamp park off Largo. Really do not understand shark hunters because is you kill all the sharks the whole ecosystem dies.