Former FLL Now MSP Diver
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Fort Lauderdale man reels in 582-pound shark near beach
Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
November 22, 2004
After wrestling for nearly three hours with a scalloped hammerhead shark off South Beach, a Fort Lauderdale man reeled in the 12-foot, 582-pounder Sunday not far from where people were swimming.
"I might have to buy a house because I don't have a wall to put this thing on," said Mark Farmer, 33, who caught the shark while on a chartered fishing expedition. "I never caught anything this big, so it's really cool."
Farmer said he hooked the shark at about 10 a.m. while he and about four other fishermen were on a shark fishing trip with Mark the Shark, owner of a deep-sea gamefishing charter company for 35 years in Miami.
"Immediately, the reels took off screaming because it was pulling out lines so fast," Farmer said.
He sat in a fighting chair, and reeled the shark in after about three hours, he said. By Sunday night it was at a taxidermist, where it will be turned into a trophy.
The charter company owner said the hammerhead Farmer caught Sunday was one of the biggest he's ever seen.
"I catch them all the time, but the size is very unique," he said.
Alan Ogle caught a 994-pound hammerhead off Sarasota on May 30, 1982, according to a Florida Fishing and Wildlife Conservation Commission Web site.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...,0,3856680,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Marc
Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
November 22, 2004
After wrestling for nearly three hours with a scalloped hammerhead shark off South Beach, a Fort Lauderdale man reeled in the 12-foot, 582-pounder Sunday not far from where people were swimming.
"I might have to buy a house because I don't have a wall to put this thing on," said Mark Farmer, 33, who caught the shark while on a chartered fishing expedition. "I never caught anything this big, so it's really cool."
Farmer said he hooked the shark at about 10 a.m. while he and about four other fishermen were on a shark fishing trip with Mark the Shark, owner of a deep-sea gamefishing charter company for 35 years in Miami.
"Immediately, the reels took off screaming because it was pulling out lines so fast," Farmer said.
He sat in a fighting chair, and reeled the shark in after about three hours, he said. By Sunday night it was at a taxidermist, where it will be turned into a trophy.
The charter company owner said the hammerhead Farmer caught Sunday was one of the biggest he's ever seen.
"I catch them all the time, but the size is very unique," he said.
Alan Ogle caught a 994-pound hammerhead off Sarasota on May 30, 1982, according to a Florida Fishing and Wildlife Conservation Commission Web site.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...,0,3856680,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Marc
