Possible Record Hammer -Team Rebel's Tyler and Zach Miller

My response on the Extremecoast website .

"Few land-based shark fisherman will feel the surge of such powerful beast,,,,,in the shark family=THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING MACHINE ,,,,,,,,and only a select handful will taste victory against such mighty beast .There is no other shark that will test a shark fisherman like a giant hammer will ;CONGRATULATIONS fall short of the words needed to praise these two extreme fishers.Zach puts in more time shark fishing the right spots then anyone I know right now with the exception of one man -Ernie Polk.Only man that are obsessed and driven will have the rewards of such giant fish in a lifetime.Effort and willingness to endure pain alone will not assure such a feat ,the angler must study there adversary, it's habits,peculiar behaviour and only keeping line and equipment used in tip -top shape makes such catches possible.Extraordinary fisherman ,in extraordinary places ,catching extraordinary monsters.

What I will write next will make some mad but I am 48 years old and I understand that I will perish one day and see life differently then when I was in my twenties.YOU MAKE YOUR MARK and make the biggest MARK you can-- while you can.When the hammerhead species becomes banned as a take species in Florida your chance at the world record FROM LAND is gone.That catch if it was over 1280 lbs and beaten Bucky Dennis's existing world record would stand for many ,many years and would have gotten you a degree of success that few big name marlin fisherman and shark fisherman alike can even imagine . That shark would of propelled you into a different level in your life had you decided to file for a World Record.Forget working on a hot roof the rest of your life ,if you wanted you could become a charter captain,professional skiff guide or fisherman/entrepeneaur and you could of had edorsements worth many thousands of dollars from Penn ,line manufacturer etc, etc ,etc hell you could of started your own brand of fishing line,,,,,,,the sky is the limit.I don't say this in a derogatory way I applaud your sense of conservation and dedication to this sport but I think that in the future you will look back and realize what a giant opputunity you passed up.Again congratulations on your accomplishment,,,,,William".

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK WORLD RECORD OR NOT?

WOW.

Outstanding in every aspect, these guys actually released the Great Hammerhead, I'm speechless.
"To thyne own self be true" what I mean is: in their heart, the angler konws what he caught and what he released, double the glory IMO.

Congrats to Team Rebel. Zach works his ass off and is justly rewarded!

over 1000!!!Congrats

That's the catch of a lifetime right there, the ultimate game fish.

You know what they say about a catch of a lifetime. It's only the catch of a lifetime until you catch a bigger one

My response on the Extremecoast website .

"Few land-based shark fisherman will feel the surge of such powerful beast,,,,,in the shark family=THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING MACHINE ,,,,,,,,and only a select handful will taste victory against such mighty beast .There is no other shark that will test a shark fisherman like a giant hammer will ;CONGRATULATIONS fall short of the words needed to praise these two extreme fishers.Zach puts in more time shark fishing the right spots then anyone I know right now with the exception of one man -Ernie Polk.Only man that are obsessed and driven will have the rewards of such giant fish in a lifetime.Effort and willingness to endure pain alone will not assure such a feat ,the angler must study there adversary, it's habits,peculiar behaviour and only keeping line and equipment used in tip -top shape makes such catches possible.Extraordinary fisherman ,in extraordinary places ,catching extraordinary monsters.

What I will write next will make some mad but I am 48 years old and I understand that I will perish one day and see life differently then when I was in my twenties.YOU MAKE YOUR MARK and make the biggest MARK you can-- while you can.When the hammerhead species becomes banned as a take species in Florida your chance at the world record FROM LAND is gone.That catch if it was over 1280 lbs and beaten Bucky Dennis's existing world record would stand for many ,many years and would have gotten you a degree of success that few big name marlin fisherman and shark fisherman alike can even imagine . That shark would of propelled you into a different level in your life had you decided to file for a World Record.Forget working on a hot roof the rest of your life ,if you wanted you could become a charter captain,professional skiff guide or fisherman/entrepeneaur and you could of had edorsements worth many thousands of dollars from Penn ,line manufacturer etc, etc ,etc hell you could of started your own brand of fishing line,,,,,,,the sky is the limit.I don't say this in a derogatory way I applaud your sense of conservation and dedication to this sport but I think that in the future you will look back and realize what a giant opputunity you passed up.Again congratulations on your accomplishment,,,,,William".

I will probably receive heat from many on this site, but I have the complete opposite thinking of you on this subject Will. I believe we are almost past the days of killing a shark for the simple justification of a obtaining a record. If you practice catch and release fishing and keep a shark every once in a while to eat, no problem, you are well within your rights. But when you intentionally decide to kill a shark for the sole reason of having your name in the record books and/or maybe procuring a few sponsorships, that's not justified in my world. I commend Zach and his team for seeing past the glory of having the world record hammer..and I guarantee you he knew the recognition he could've gotten from weighing the hammer, but decided the fish was more important than himself. For me, 20 years down the line, I will remember the guy who released a potential world record hammer from the beach, not Bucky Dennis. Then again, that's just me.

All I can say is WOW!!!! what a fish and your second monster this year, your definitely doing something right congratulations on your catch you guys deserve it. Will

VERY NICE HAMMER TEAM REBEL NICE CATCH BUT FOR YOURE TEAM

I will probably receive heat from many on this site, but I have the complete opposite thinking of you on this subject Will. I believe we are almost past the days of killing a shark for the simple justification of a obtaining a record. If you practice catch and release fishing and keep a shark every once in a while to eat, no problem, you are well within your rights. But when you intentionally decide to kill a shark for the sole reason of having your name in the record books and/or maybe procuring a few sponsorships, that's not justified in my world. I commend Zach and his team for seeing past the glory of having the world record hammer..and I guarantee you he knew the recognition he could've gotten from weighing the hammer, but decided the fish was more important than himself. For me, 20 years down the line, I will remember the guy who released a potential world record hammer from the beach, not Bucky Dennis. Then again, that's just me.

I respect your opinion, no heat given here. The fact is, if we had more fisherman with that attitude we'd have a lot more fish in the sea.
The other fact is, there is no such thing as a wealthy fisherman...and speaking from experience, a record boosts your business quite substantially. I am very protective of the species that I fish for on a daily business, and nothing pisses me off more than some idiot dragging in a shark for no reason. But if its a record, and your in the business, all bets are off. I hate killing them...but the amount of business it gets you is remarkable.

Do we eliminate the IGFA and say that in todays world it is no longer of any use???Do we give up the IGFA as an organization that sets the standards?I don't believe so.In the world I grew up in, it was and still is, the record keeping organization of international recognition.Don't get me wrong I am all for catch and release but a world record fish can be killed by a sportsman or it will be most likely killed a Mexican longliner in the gulf.

A world record hammerhead from shore to me is an extremely important event in land-based shark fishing and letting it slip by unrecognized properly is an injustice to our sport.Our sport has had enough attacks on it ,,it is time that some positive light be shed on it.I don't see any joe smoe shark fisherman catching these monster sharks I see only the best doing it and the best deserve there recognition as does the sport as a whole .The world will not stop spinning and sharks will not be exterminated because a serious and outstanding shark fisherman decides to kill one prized catch or two in his lifetime.I'm not much at jumping on the green badwagon when the rest of the world sh4ts allover our enviromental views.

I release my sharks and even a 13 foot tiger in the Bahamas and intend to keep releasing all my the sharks I catch but if i catch a 14 or 15 foot hammer that could break Bucky's record ,,,,,,,buddy I'm doing the IGFA thing.I have had a IGFA membership for many years I have been involved in the capture of world record sharks some still stand like the Caribean Reef shark record that Rene de Dios caught on my boat many years ago.I see things very differently then i did years ago but some records like the Tiger,Hammer or Mako records are fair game in my book.For me it would be the culmination of a life's work and a dream come true,,,,,,can you knock a man for fulfilling his dreams?Do so if you wish it is your right but my rights are clear in my mind.I'm a big game hunter releasing most but always looking for that one giant of my childhood dreams,,,,, nothing more nothing less.

WORLD RECORD TIGER WALTER MAXWELL 1780 LBS LAND-BASED CATCH 1964
WORLD RECORD HAMMER ______ _______ 1327 LBS LAND-BASED CATCH 2010

A second land-based record to stand the test of time like Maxwell's represents doing something good for our sport and showing the guys on boats that us land-based fisherman can put up records without million dollar boats.

Zach is still young and impressionable and I believe when he realizes how his life could of been so positively impacted with one event he will have a different view looking back.Laws to protect sharks will continue to get tougher in the US so eventually it will be illegal to harvest almost any shark .Times are changing and the world we know and live in is rapidly changing and many times we will look back and not be able to remember the world we once had.Just my honest opinion.

dammm i cant catch that cause evrybodyyyyyyyyyyy on this site knows it would have been on the back of my pick up truck looking for a scale to see the weight and after i would have broke the record i would have been on the phone with the hearld then i would have called the florida fishing report and told my story.

p.s
i dont care wat ya tree huging hippys gatta say about not killing sharks if ya wanna do something about it start ur own group like they did in "whale wars" and do something about it, go after the real shark killers, the commercial fisherman long liners , if i kill every shark i catch in one year it wont be anywhere near wat the long liners kill in 3 night. come on man!!!!!!!!! this is wats wrong with the U.S.A nowadays eveything people say or do is insensitive, wat ever happen to all those old marine guy that would curse up a storm and when u get hurt he tell u to walk it off or rub some dirt on it. when they bomb pearl harbor wat did we do we exterminated the japanese cause there were people who were hard. when 9-11 happen wat did we do we went to war messed up the economie thousands of americans died and nothing got accomplished, cause of people like you saying, the poor arabs they didnt mean it, give them another chance SOFTTTTTTTTT.

i dont belive in killing every shark but if its worth it i say do it

sorry will for going off like this

GREAT CATCH ZACK AND CREW.

A world record hammerhead from shore to me is an extremely important event in land-based shark fishing and letting it slip by unrecognized properly is an injustice to our sport.

WILL,

IN THIS SPECIFIC INSTANCE IT WOULD NOT QUALIFY UNDER IGFA (perhaps the reason for the release)
ROD EXCHANGED HANDS BETWEEN TWO ANGLERS ( big mistake IMO)