Tonight had to happen to fully and completely prepare me for whats to come.If I want to catch a 1200 lb Hammer, a 1500 lb Tiger, or KING KONG like we say around here it had to happen so i could now correctly fine tune my equipment, techniques to stop such a beast.It had to happen so I could once again understand whats gonna be required of my body in power to match strength and stamina with such a monster ;now I remember what will be required of my mind and spirit to block out the pain I will have to endure to battle him for hours.
"hurry bring me the water and pour it on the reel" I am awestruck at the power of the beast I've hooked and the look on my face and on Ryan's tells the tale
I was using a head half of a 25 lb cuda out 300 yards on my Penn 16/0 with 130 lb Gator Glass rod .The surf was choppy on this night but I had a feeling anything could happen on nights like this with big sharks being caught left and right . I had just caught another dammed blacktip but I was ok with that they were not destroying all our baits like they were a month ago .Right around 12:30 one hour after high tide my 16/0 clicker starts going off so I run over and pick it up.I knew when I felt the surge of this beast that this was no ordinary shark or another blacktip.The line flew off the reel and could feel solid fast shark as it was swam off with my big bait--no dropping or or hesitating of this bait just a steady and rather fast hit was what i felt.When i did the running man I felt the weight of an unseen MONSTER that as the mono fully stretched and the beast felt the hooks the 16/0 started SCREAMING as line began to disappear I let out a loud yell "i got em it's huge and taking heavy drag"I called out for my harness and the gallon of water as the line flew of the big Senator.
"pour it on the the sideplate not the line"I 'm just hanging on for dear life at this point as i watch the line fly off rapidly
Folks I can say with certainty that what I hooked tonight was over 1000 lbs maybe over 1100 lbs.I leaned back on my mighty 10 foot Gatorglass and was not hurting this fish in any way ,seldom have a seen line come off a reel like I seen tonight.I quickly harnessed up and dug my rod butt in the sand and with the shark taking line and me trying to stop the monster I could hardly lift the rod to bend it- the rod was almost pointing the horizon as I strained with all my might to bend the rod and slow this runaway freight train.Remember it's hard to bend one of these big rods but try bending it as a beast takes line in the opposite direction and with so much force that you are helpless to do anything but hang on.When I hooked this giant hammer I had a little more then half a spool of line but in a matter of a few fast minutes I was down to less then 1/4 spool with a very tight drag I was not slowing this fish a bit.NIGHTs LIKE THIS MAKE ME UNDERSTAND WHY I NEED A 16/0 OR IS IT A REMINDER THAT EVEN THE MIGHTY PENN 16'S ARE MADE TO FEEL SMALL AND POWERLESS AGAINST THE BADDEST MIGHTIEST SHARKS .When you hook your first monster that you can't stop you will remember this story. As the spool got smaller I told Shannon to get his 14/0 which was in ready to tie in cause this shark was not gonna be possible to stop.I could smell the new drag washers burning as water was poured to cool the reel.Everyone around me was calling this beast of a shark a monster ,a huge force that would take hours of battling to catch.The shark showed no sign of stopping or slowing as i struggled like I have not in years to lift my rod and turn the fish.
At this point I am struggling to lift the rod as the giant shark makes a mad dash for the Bahamas(east).The rod points almost straight out to the horizon because there is so much pressure ,the drag increases as the line gets lower so although you want to tighten the drag you should back off slightly as the spool gets smaller
I was on my way to getting spooled with a perfect condition 16/0 with new drag washers .The biggest of sharks require complete attention to detail ,no laziness ,only the best of everything because they will find your weakest link and on this night my weakest link was a splice that I had 400 yards from the leader and it gave way.My splice came apart and I lost the WORLD RECORD HAMMER TONIGHT.I was so upset and angry at myself for not having changed my old line for brand new 2000 yard spool i bought last week I wanted to cry and I screamed in agony as i realized I had lost a shark bigger then my 13 foot 8 inch Hammer in 1989 and bigger then my 13 foot Tiger in 2008.This shark was that much more powerful then those two .I LOST A TRUE MONSTER OF THE DEEP but he good thing is I will be ready ---me and Ray(clack,clack,clack)took off all the remaining line off the 16/0 and put it in the garbage can.Time to wind on the new line in the morning.Lesson learned "don't get lazy and procastinate in this sport or you will pay the price when King Kong comes along".
THANKS TO SHANNON,RAY AND RYAN FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT ON THE SAND AND AGAINST THE BEAST.
caught this blacktip before the monster showed up
using Ryan's home made dehooker on the blacktip
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
MAN THAT SUCKS!... hopefully he'll stick around for you to put another hook in him tom night.
Colby Uva : Bullbuster Team Captain
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107013063084498996341/
SFSC-Tagging/Fishing Science Coordinator
I want everybody to know i was next to Shannon last year when he hooked a monster that spooled his 14/0 and 12/0, but this shark was ready to spool three 16/0s tonight, anybody who has met Will can easyly see he has alot of strength on him but this shark didnt let him even pick up the rod.... this was a true monster that i dont know how we were even going to bring him to the sand to take the pics
DIRTY SOUTH SHARK HUNTERS
2012 1st place BLACKTIP CHALLENGE
2011 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION 2nd year in a row
2010 BHC biggest hammerhead shark on 80 lb test
2010 NO LIMIT TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
2010 BHC 3rd and 5th place biggest shark
2010 april sharker of the month
2009-2010 Rookie of the year
Will sorry lost that beast,but you will get another chance to redeem yourself in the BHC,hopefully. great report. 
King Kong-1
Will-0
Time for a rematch buddy! 
'SHARKS IN THE WATER'!!!!!!!!
will -- 
-glad you got a great thrill--sad the weak link showed its ugly head 
-----
got to be a thrill i just wish i could experience
sharkin sonny
1) The splice that I tied this year has always held up in the past but it slipped when David (ineedabonita) got spooled this year down to 100 yards on his 12/0.
2) Will, you said that this is one of those EPICS YEARS and you are 100 percent correct and April has just begun. You know where she lives Will so she'll be back so you can get your hooks back from her.
3) For everybody, if you want to win the 2011 Big Hammer Challenge, you better learn how to tie in!!!!!
CONO!!!!!! Will I'm sorry to hear that you lost THE BEAST!!!!! I can only imagine how you feel. You are a true veteran with more know how than most. If you and the crew couldn't pull it off then this Beast just wasn't going to be caught on this night. I lost and Nice one last week after I caught a Bull on the bridge and I have not stopped thinking about it all week. The only thing we can do is just keep trying.
Sorry to hear that Will, But you will b on top of your game next time.
Someone once told me the following, "Don't let it swell your heads ... of lite beer drinking grasshoppers ...should continue to improve cause yoalls will need all the training you can get for this year's BHC."
GETCHA, GETCHA SHARKON 
LOVE YA
TEAM GETCHA GETCHA SHARKON
DAMN WILL,
I wish i could have been there (damn tax lady).. Next time. You defintily perked my ears as i am looking at the line that came with my 14/o and now im second guessing it.. Sounds like OLD HITLER is still out there .. We will get em..
Thats a bummer..............I always hate splices.
I cant imagine the epic fight that would have occurred if the splice didnt break. Sounds like your gonna be ready next time Will and i cant wait till you catch em and show us all how its done. Time to spool on some BullBuster fishing line ! 
Eddie C.
Team BullBuster
Check out the new BullBuster website, opening JUNE
wow that would be a nice catch, if landed.