1,280 Pound Shark

Bucky Dennis caught a 1,280-pound hammerhead shark Tuesday in Boca Grande Pass

Dennis was alone on his boat when the 14-foot animal took the bait, which was a 25-pound stingray.

A friend on a nearby vessel climbed aboard Dennis' boat to help. The 5 feet 9 inch, 180-pound man also used shoulder harnesses to help reel in the shark.

Dennis said they finally got the shark on the boat after about five hours.

The shark is the largest to be captured in 22 years.

The big catch had to be dragged 12 miles to a scale in order to be weighed.
go

I find that to be very depressing and sad.

DOES MAN HAVE TO KILL EVERYTHING!

I agree that is sad. I would have measured and released it, there is no need to kill such a magnificent animal. I wonder what he is going to do with it.

well i hope Bucky Dennis get eaten by shark one day

As an angler myself, I find that very distressing in that it was killed to be weighed. Most big game anglers will tag, measure/estimate length and return the fish (especially of this size) unharmed without it leaving the water. Weight would then be calculated from a chart determined by the length of the fish. With the shark population, in general, well in decline, a hammerhead of that size could be well over 20 years old and be breeding well. No need for that animal to be killed. No doubt it will probably end up at a taxidermists studio to either have just the head mounted or the jaws boiled for mounting. The rest of the fish will probably just go to waste other than the fins which may or may not be any use to Chinese alternative medicine practitioners.

Why did those b******* have to harm the shark? That was senseless.

I am an angler too, I have fished barbless for years. Most of what I get I release unless it is a tasty fish which is common. I have fished that pass from shore and there is some big tarpon that come through the pass. Everyone catches and releases the tarpon, but sometimes fishermen loose half their tarpon while reeling it in to a shark. I figured there was some big sharks out there.

Woah !


What a nice catch there!

That shark is friggen massive... I bet there are larger ones than that out there as well!!

Apperantly we do! And it sucks! And it seems we won,t be happy till everything is wrecked, mangled, destroyed and dead! Oh but hwe,ll have bragging rights won,t he? Jerk!

That's one big mother.

WoW!!! I wonder how old the shark was? I hope it didn't suffer. Sigh

That is just downright cruel...Obviously it was an ego thing...Guess we humans will just keep killing ourselves, our wildlife, ocean creatures and whatever else we can get our hands on...Really sad...

that man, and i use that term extremely loosely, is a low-life cretin..
why in the world would you bring that creature in? whoop-de-do-.. to get into guiness world records? there is no way you could eat that amount of fish.. and i dont think it would be that tasty either
all i can say is that it is extremely sad

Why, why, why???? I am sickened by Yahoos, redknecks, and all the other weeners that get satisfaction from killing a majestic creature. Let them go hand-to-hand combat with them- they just sit on their boat completely out of harms way, and just start reeling in, "oh no! I have a callous from all this winding in". Anybody else impressed? Anybody remember the post where this fat 14 year old kid killed a massive "wild" Boar? ( it had been raised in captivity - and released to be killed surrounded by people with serious arms?), just as sick

You do know the shark would die one day, right?

Uh yea die hmmmmm....kill TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! There was no good reason to kill this shark other then for pure satisfaction for his human ego. Like Darkwind and TheNomad said they are angler's they are far to familer and they both have said there was no reason to KILL this beautiful shark.

I am so glad that there are others that agree that this was a senseless killing.

Question: Was he intentionally looking for a shark ? (with the bait he was using?) Should this not be illegal???

You would think that it would be illegal.

I didn't know that fishers tag, measure, etc...

... I'm still awed by the size of that shark. It must've put up a really tough fight...

TeraLink Was Here!

If you think just catching it was cruel you should have read what I did on a local Boca Grande site... the shark was a pregnant female with a record 55 pup unborn litter inside her.

That is horrible. We need sharks to keep the ocean in sync. There are there for a reason if we kill them off, then we are going to be screwed.

This kind of question really makes me laugh. Are you all vegetarians?
Do you not realize that every time you eat pork...beef...chicken...fish....that the animal was killed?
Millions of pounds of sharks are harvested every year by commercial fishermen so you can eat "fish sticks" usually described as "white fish" and I'm only talking about the U.S.A.
A shark of this size caught on rod and reel is a monumental event for the angler.....kudos to him!!!!

Men have to kill record breakers, its called proof.

That's big and amazing, but not letting it go, I could punch him a good one for that. The pig.

Well, what did you expect from a guy named 'Bucky'?

lol, you're right.

that was a fine specimen
shame it had to die so we could see it
it took five hours for that tool to land that magnificent creature it most certainly suffered
and to display it out like a trophy was just sickening
sadly in order for some of us to discover we have to destroy too
he will get his come uppence you dont take out a life like that for sport and not mess with your karma
thats bad ju ju for sure
he should be rowed far out to sea and made to swim back with blood soaked clothes and pockets full of fishheads
lets see how long it would take to get whats coming to him and to make it a bit fairer on a level playing field (i,l give him a small fruit knife to have a go back
i cant stand people who hunt or kill for sport
if you kill it to eat it thats fine but not for fun


if ive offended anyone with what ive just said deal with it

Does that make you a man? No... it makes you a red-necked jerk. A real man would have freed the Shark, but then, you wouldnt know anything about being a real man would you??? Fool!

You dont have to kill it to make it a record breaker.

No, I'm sure most of us on here are not vegetarians, and eat meat on a regular basis. What we are so mad about, is the killing of an animal just for sport. I'm sure that guy had NO intention of using the shark for food... he just wanted the noteriety of having caught it. Sharks are indeed becoming (and some types already are) an endangered species. If someone insists on killing something just because they think it's 'fun' and for 'sport' (which is funny, cause if that attitude was directed at humans, he would be labeled a psychopathic killer), then pick something that's not close to being on the endangered species list.

:tu:FairyJosie23

That's a thumbs up to ya. What happened to the smilyface guy!

Thanks! Sometimes I wanna slap people who are like that.

Mmmmmmmm.....just need a 55 gallon drum of tarter sauce now!

Congrats to the angler, that's one big Shark. I've caught Hammerheads in SC but nowhere near that big. Hopefully, the meat is put to good use, such as donated to a homeless shelter. That's normally what is done.

Using stingrays is not illegal. I've used stingrays as bait in Boca Grande when targeting Goliath grouper, which is probably what he was after. The shark was a pleasant surprise...

No doubt that killing the shark was sad. I probably wouldof released it, but as long as the meat is put to good use...

OMG ...... THAT SUCKER IS HUGE!!!!!!!! Why do i suddenly crave fish'n chips?

i bet it tasted pretty good. mmmm!!!

This shocks me a little because I used to swim in the waters off of Cayo Costa State Park... We would go way off shore because it doesn't get deep for a long way. If I go back I guess I will now be looking around a little more...

that is not natural.....

You said it! I am afraid to swim any ocean. I've only gone about 3 to 4 foot in just to keep close to my crazy kids.

Thats one big shark. Sad to see it been taken out of the ocean though.

that is great,that he caught such a big one................he must be lucky that day.

I'm currently working in the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Lab in Florida, we did a week of fishing the gulf from Tampa Bay/St Petersberg to Midnight pass, we caught only juvenile hammerheads, but we got some big bulls (we tagged and released everything). Not enough big animals compared to previous years sadly. My friend was fishing for tarpon in the pan-handle and he lost a few to a big tiger shark. I've got to say I'm quite jealous of that.
With the sport fishing, its ridiculous tho kill an animal just to weigh it something that is not popular in my workplace.

Tut tut Goliath grouper are serverly under threat! As are sharks in general, tag and release is the only way to go.

one of you namesake bit me the otherweek btw.

Well said my fellow Angler.Catch and Release in cases like that,unless you catch cappie and catfish to eat.

Aint that the truth.

I'd be proud of catching a shark that big, but I'd SO release it after measuring, without taking it out of the water of course. thats just crueeell

This thread has entertained me.

Gj, all.