2012 Best Year 3 HAMMERS OVER 13 Ft, 10'2"MAKO+1000 lb Tiger

The last several years I have written on previous occasion of the evolution of our sport and how we are becoming better at what we do ,but 2012 has been a year that exemplifies that progression of the the land-based shark fishermen best.Driven by the excellent fishermen around the world sharing there stories and techniques on this and other websites more fishing knowledge has been passed along in the last several years then in all of the previous decades.Who would say that in that in 2012 there would be a 14 foot 2 inch Hammerhead,a 13 foot 3 inch Hammerhead and a report with 17 Tiger sharks caught in ONE NIGHT and from ONE BEACH by 4 different Teams fishing during the Big Hammer Challenge Shark Tournament.

We at the South Florida Shark Club are honored to help promote our sport around the world, and honored to have inspired so many anglers to try our sport for the first time ,and proud to see so many fishermen who have given back by posting their stories on this and other shark fishing sites.This year's Big Hammer Challenge was the best ever and produced the biggest shark ever in any internet based shark fishing tournament so with that said we have seen on these pages the extraordinary catches that by our promotion ,involvement and expierience in the sport of land-based shark fishing have been made .We are helping create better shark fishermen who are catching bigger sharks and that is very satisfying for us.We are giving back to the sport by helping with knowledge driven by the passion for our sport.There are no boundaries any longer what we share here on this website can be applied from just about any beach ,anywhere on the globe to create another outstanding shark fishermen and that helps fulfill one our key goals-to pass along a love of LAND-BASED SHARK FISHING
The number of excellent reports posted on these pages makes it nearly impossible for me to point out each and every angler and each and every large shark they caught but I am pleased to say "thank you!!!" to each one of you who got involved in the sport and then filed a report on this site.Maybe you contributed by passing along the passion for the sport to other fishermen or by taking the time to teach a newbie the sport .Thank you all..

GIANT HAMMERHEAD SHARK 14 FOOT 2 INCH

MARK RESTO with his 14 foot 2 inch Monster Hammerhead (largest in club history)

GIANT HAMMERHEAD SHARK 13 FOOT 3 INCH

Team Hammer Wrangler's Rico Diamandi'd 13 foot 3 inch BEAST HAMMER

10 FOOT 2 INCH MAKO CAUGHT ON A FLORIDA PANHANDLE BEACH

A catch of a lifetime caught by Matt(Matzy)Marciano and assisted by Troy Coupel on a cold December night .WOW WHAT A CATCH

LONG KEY MONSTER HAMMER 13 ft plus

story by Big Will J Fundora

Long Key Bridge is a hostile brutal place for any type of fisherman, few shark fishermen have the guts to drop a shark bait there, it’s notorious ripping currents, big wide sharp barnacle filled telephone poles and huge sharks have even the best land based shark fisherman running in fear to beaches up north where they believe they have a chance to land a monster shark. I have been shark fishing Long Key Bridge for years, since the age of thirteen. I have fished there and learned alongside some of the best shark fisherman like Jimbo, Rene and a few others. I have witnessed the best land based shark fishermen win and lose many battles there and since then I have heard horror stories of massive great hammerheads that have wrecked their 14/0’s and 16/0’s and even eaten some of the shark fishermen’s black tips off there line and had even witnessed it myself. About eight years ago, I had a 250-300lb bull hooked up and had a massive hammerhead come up to it and bump it a few times and even bite the bull shark on its tail, the hammer was so big I still to this day after so many years can’t shake the image out of my head. Teammates Shawn and Varune last year had a nurse shark on and had it getting attacked by one of these massive hammers. Even after all these massive shark encounters, I still load my truck, but not with small equipment; I no longer dare to take a 9/0 or 12/0 there. I now have upgraded my equipment to 14/0’s and 16/0’s with 10ft sticks and still like last year 2011 had teammate Shawn hook up to one of these beasts on his 14/0 that he could not stop. Yet, still with odds against me and knowing in the back of my head I have slim to no chance, I still for fun love to go up there on the bridge and feel the power of these massive beasts. I have gotten mixed comments throughout the years from the public while fishing there some fisherman laugh when they see me, thinking I am crazy needing such big equipment yet others like the local tarpon guides laugh from the boats down below and tell me “dream on if you think you will stop that massive hammerhead that eats my 100lb tarpon all the time he is the size of a 747”. Long Key like many other places in April is definitely where the buffalo roam no doubt about it.
On this day wed April 11 I am sick as a dog with bronchitis, sore throat, fever, body ache and the whole nine, my buddy Johnny invites my wife and I along with one of his buddies for a day of spearfishing. My 12/0 like always takes a ride on any boat I’m in during the months of March and April just in case I spot a shark of interest. Johnny and his buddy Jim start spearfishing on a reef south of Long Key in about 30ft of water, and I remind them both that I plan on fishing long key bridge the next day and that I need bait, and to please spear any cudas they see if at all possible. Spearfishing on this particular day proved to be slow they get a few yellow jacks and hog snappers but other than that they started granting me my requests hitting cudas, I begin to get excited as they throw me cuda after cuda in the boat, but the spear fisherman aren’t so happy; they start hitting cudas so big they rip their 400 dollar guns out of their hands and start towing them in the water until the other guy spears the cuda again killing it. On another occasion they have to cut the shaft off their gun, because one of these big cudas got them wrapped on coral rock down below, and now I am not the most popular person on the boat because of my shark bait requests lol, but I Keep screaming at them “more get me more”. They see a sting ray and ask me if I’m interested “HELL YA I AM NAIL HIM!!!” I yell ,they both go down and spear the mud ray and when they rise to the surface to hand me the ray I reach down to grab it and look behind them in the horizon and see Long Key Bridge I tell Johnny ”lets go and put him down live at the bridge.” Tired of spearing me shark bait they both agree and after jumping in the boat Johnny puts the 250 Yamaha at 45knots heading west to Long Key Bridge. I quickly grab my 12/0 and start tying my floating device and one of my double 14/0 hook rigs on and start looking at the ray gasping for oxygen and bleeding out of two spear gun wounds and tell her “Don’t worry baby we are almost there it is almost over”.
We finally arrive to Long Key during an incoming tide, I grab the ray (that’s a little larger than I wanted) weighing approximately 30lbs but toss him in the water anyways with double hooks in his back (knowing the hammers here are huge anyways and shouldn’t have a problem eating such a big bait), for the first 15 minutes the ray appeared dead floating upside down on the surface, until a few minutes later it started swimming right side up and even pulling the one gallon jug under water from time to time, the waiting game begins. The sun on this day is harsh with no wind at all, and had us all on the boat fighting for shade, the water is crystal clear, and not even a ripple on the water the wind is so calm, we continue to wait I can feel the tension on the boat the crew members want to leave but I tell them “Trust me wait it’s going to happen give me more time”. 2and half hours have passed, some crew members are falling asleep when all of a sudden I see it ,a huge dorsal fin breaks the surf about 30yards behind the ray and I scream “That’s it it’s on!!!!”
The massive hammer grabs the ray with no hesitation , and starts charging the boat, I grab the 12/0 and start reeling as fast as I can to bring in all the slack, and as soon as I get all the slack in and feel tension I start jerking the rod with all my strength setting the hook and BOOM she is on. The shark starts running against the current and burning my 12/0 instantly, I start screaming orders “let go of the anchor buoy” and already this massive shark starts heading for the anchor rope we just threw in. She circles around it twice nearly defeating us already by wrapping us on the anchor rope but the captain slams the boat into gear and circles closely and unwraps my line from the rope, she then starts heading for the first telephone pole. I start thinking “this fish is old and smart” a quick maneuver with the boat and I still have her by this time the reel is so hot I already have a tattoo of a star drag on my inner forearm and even a blister on the inside of my left knee from the bearing on the clicker side of my reel. This fish is pissed and starts pulling this 23ft boat with 4 passengers and a full 140gallon tank against the current for an hour and 45mins south about 2 miles and during that time she was still constantly hugging the poles and the bridge, with what appeared to be intensions on cutting me off. At this point I’m completely exhausted my cold and the blistering sun have me saying prayers for energy, this fish caught me with my pants down, but I don’t give up I finally work this beast to the top and she is massive.
I finally after a near 2 hour aggressive tight drag battle put a hurting on one of the fish that has probably been putting a hurting on me and many other shark fisherman while fishing this bridge for many years in the past. My biggest fish before this was a 11ft11in hammer and this fish dwarfed it no doubt her head is massive and her body is thick and I believe she is knocked up with pups. The last part of the video when you hear me screaming “clip it, clip it” (meaning cut the wire), you hear 3 grown men growling and pulling with all their might on the wire to get this massive heavy fish to the surface to clip the wire and get a nice video of it, only then can you really appreciate the true size of this fish. Many people will ask me why didn’t you measure it, and the answer is because trying to measure a shark on a boat that isn’t an open fisherman or a convertible with a huge beam is too difficult one individual would have to hang his body 3-4 feet from the boat near the cabin where the freeboard is very high and there is very little room and someone in the rear to hold the tape on the tail and another man on the wire to hold the fish from moving. It can be done but couldn’t be done quickly causing a long stress on the fish for a measurement that probably still wouldn’t be accurate , I rather not put this fish through that. I wanted to ensure her survival. I want to thank Johnny Carrascal for driving the boat and spearing my bait, I also want to thank Jim Bao Tran, for also helping spear the bait and helping on deck, and also want to thank my wife Irma for helping in landing the biggest shark of my life.

Cutting Fin

Look at that GIRTH on her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkDVsZRuPiY&feature=channel&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNDldpw_hg&context=C4c85369ADvjVQa1PpcFMA4TkbuqOGlO7ot-9BUEkuIlKnN9XaX9Y=
MUST SEE!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klxbec0aPFU&context=C4c85369ADvjVQa1PpcFMA4TkbuqOGlO7ot-9BUEkuIlKnN9XaX9Y=
After Release

OUTCAST CHARTER'S SOUTH CAROLINA MONSTER TIGERS

BY Captain Chip

"I've been on a dry spell lately. Plenty of 300-400 lb Tigers, Nice Hammer and lots of Lemons and 'tips, but this morning we nailed a nice one. She didnt smoke the reel like the other giants have, just a slow heavy run. After she dumped about 350 yards we released the anchor and chased. We saw the fish start rising an hour into the fight from about 40 yards, and by the size of the shadow I said "If thats a hammer we got the state record"....as the big girl got closer my charter went nuts. It was just a giant Tiger, well over 1,000. We tried our best to break her will and get her boatside for some great pictures, but she had a heart of steel. I got her to the surface 3 times for a brief time, and had barely enough time to peg her with the tag stick. She swam off very strong... To my fellow shark fisherman, have a great weekend!"

A smaller tiger boatside
"The Tigers have been steady. Today is the first day of the season we've caught 3 in one day. But I think the 2 Tiger pictures might be of the same one. I give my camera to my customer and cut them loose, lots of blurry ones I couldnt upload. Saw 2 cobia swimming with a tiger and plucked one from her. Fortunately, my people had a plane to catch by 3:30 so they gave it to me. It was on the grill a few hours later."

BRIDGE BUSTING MONSTAHS!!!

John Gibson and Dylan Gigiliotti (Team Hotreelz)teamed up for this massive west coast Goliath Grouper

Luis Cordova is one of the best shark fishermen on the bridges of the Florida keys

Mark Resto measuring Vinny's bull on a Ft Pierce bridge.

Mark Resto fights another shark from a Ft Pierce bridge

hes right behind me with its twin

Dylan and a shark fishing buddy team up on two Goliath Groupers

CATCHING BEACH MONSTERS OF 2012

11 ft 4 inch Palm Beach Tiger

8'1" Fatty Male BULL SHARK by Trevor Monroe

Money shot

"We called it a night after that for a total of 8 sandbars landed in a matter of 5 hours. I don't know how many were out there but the school had to have at least 50, probably more. The weather is going to be tough for the next few days but we'll give it another shot soon and maybe get a trophy fish in the mid to upper 7' range."




Triple west coast hookups for Doug,John and Joel in this extraordinary January 2012 Report

9 foot 3 1/2 inch Lemon shark caught Joe Crowell of Team Smokin Senators caught one of the biggest lemon sharks of 2012

Jd Fagan fights a big hammer by the jetties

Jd Hammer with a Palm Beach fall fatty Bull



James Fuqua aka JD Hammer with one of his BIG Key Biscayne BULLS

Shannon Bustamante with a feisty 10 foot 1 inch hammer

Raymundo Muniz with a big lemon

Jd Fagan with one of his many 2012 bull sharks

team GETCHA GETCHA SHARK ON'S Carl and Austin learning the secrets of the Miami bull shark spots

Joe Clausell with a super fat Bull shark

Jd Fagan with one of the biggest bull sharks of 2012 at 8 foot 9 inches

Chris Fronzek with a massive 8 foot 8 inch west coast bull shark

THE BIG HAMMER CHALLENGE 2012 BIGGER THEN EVER

JD Fagan with a 10 ft 10 Hammerhead

JD measuring it. 10ft 10inch

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Angler- Billy Centrone of Team-Shark Fever w a Hammerhead Shark Length- 10ft 7inches

Shannon Bustamante of Team Hammer N the Phenoms with his 9ft 9 inch Tiger Shark


Shannon extremely excited to catch his first BHC Tiger

PANHANDLE STYLE SHARK FISHING

8 foot 8 1/2 inch Bull shark caught by Mark Duncan TEAM CLUSTER %

some of the SOS crew John Hebisen ,Troy and Sonny with some cold weather Tigers


John of SHARKOUTLET.COM with a nice panhandle sandbar shark

BIG ALLIGATOR GARS and GIANT BULLS









Devin (tunastick)a outstanding shark fishermen with a few huge Panhandle caught sharks including a 8 foot 8 inch he caught and the MASSIVE 8 foot 10 inch Bull Shark caught by his friend Ryan

JD reeling in a panhandle shark


bout' 6ft

JETTY FISHING




Palm Beach resident and SFSC standout angler Jimmy Harris has been catching big fish at these jetties since he was knee high

classic Palm Beach picture of legendary fishermen James Fuqua aka Jd Hammer/Jimbo

James Fuqua (JD Hammer)fights a fish at Sebastian Inlet

WORLD CLASS PIER FISHING

John Cuthrell a Panhandle shark fishermen and a member of Team TRUE BLUE with his 11 ft male Tiger Shark

Hardcore west coast sharker Dylan Gigliotti takes out a shark bait on a surfboard

well now what do I do?

pull her up.
NAVARRE

massive tippers

The monument of an extraordinary catch the jaws and pic of Ernie Polk's 11 ft 2 in beach caught Mako

tippers

bringin' it in

another one up

fun time too

another

I think the sharks get caught on purpose just so they can come up on the pier, say Hi and go down on the awesome ride.

LAKE WORTH PIER

the King of Lake Worth Pier Eddy Espinosa

This is the Lake Worth Pier BONITA BLITZ in fuLL sWiNg .

The convicts stripes were revealed.

You're in the jungle baby. The 6fter we caught.

BUT IT'S ONLY JUST BEGUN.

Hammer said how bout we freeline a bonita on the saltists?
30lb test? I replied; you're crazy!

2012 FLORIDA KEYS FISHING

Luis Cordova an intregal part of the new Team Hammer n the Phenoms

Jd Fagan a Florida based shark fishermen and part of Hammer N the Phenoms who got started in Texas but says he ai'nt going back

Luis nails another Keys bridge BULL

The Bull Salute after the release!!!!

FLORIDA WEST COAST BACKWATER SHARK FISHING

Team Captain Austin Coryea (left) Scott Ogden (right)and Lance Alberry (not shown) were the backwater shark catching Champs of the 2012 BIG HAMMER CHALLENGE


Scott Ogden and Lance Alberry

CATCHING MONSTERS ON LIGHT LINE

BIGGEST SHARK CAUGHT ON 80 lb TEST LINE
Tim Swaggerty wins with an 8 foot 2 inch Tiger fishing Old Skool style Dacron 80 lb line on a 12/0

Eddy Espinosa wins with a 8 foot 5 inch Hammerhead caught on a 9/0 that was trashed during the fight
Eddy's 8"5 hammer head caught on 50lbs line classon a 9/0

MONSTER JEWFISH

Angler - Rob Middleton of Team Total Releasen with his west coast MONSTER GOLIATH GROUPER


6'11" Jew fish caught on 80# Bullbuster

Wallace Lea of Team Tightlinez with his MASSIVE GOLIATH GROUPER

Adam Ordonez Team Tightlinez 6 foot '6 inch Goliath Grouper

Caleb Hamilton of Team Hot Reelz with his 3rd PLACE GOLIATH GROUPER
6 foot 1 inch goliath #1

THE WOMAN ANGLERS

Christina Loveless of Team Shark Addictz with her 8 ft 7 15/16 Lemon shark

Angler Diana Coupel wife of Troy Coupel of Team Jurassic
Shark -- Bull 7ft 7in

OUTSTANDING FEMALE ANGLER ERIN CARTER TEAM TOTAL RELEASE with a 5 ft 7 inch Goliath Grouper

Angler - Erin Carter

5'7" Jew fish

KIM CROWELL part of Team Smokin Senators with a 7 ft 1 inch Bull Shark -BHC 2012

Rookie sharker ANTHONY REED of Team Shark Outlet.com MASTERED THIS 9 ft Lemon on 60 lb test
"Next was Anthony ..this was his very first shark....9'0 lemon.
That lemon was caught on a 9/0 with 60lb line. it was 9Ft and 4ft 5inches round. 611 was the weight."