Story by Earnie Polk
"Just caught the fish of a life time. Fought it for 4 hours !! Almost stripped my 12/0 everol with 90lbs of drag and 1200 yds of 200lb braid. Estimated weight over 1400lbs great hammer. It was 13'6" and half it's tail was missing. Fork length 11'8". Girth 7'8". I didn't get proper photos to qualify for a record. This fish was un real!! Thank you Brady White for continuously asking me to go and all your help. Thank you uncle Bob for always being at my side. Thank you Will Spud Smith for being the leader man and having the heart of a lion,"
"Here is some pics of the huge hammer. The total length would have been 14'8" if it's tail had not been nubbed off. Between 1450 lbs and 1481lbs. Shattering any record in the books. And we done it land based!!!! Tagged and released"
here the link to the news story
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/05/1 ... g/9242481/
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
Good job Earnie!
Will here's the link to the hammer article. The link you post is to his other article regarding land based shark fishing.
www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/05/21/land- ... k/9370937/
Nice Shark! Good luck with the TV Show! and thanks for representing LBSF well!
All I hear is Gawd sayin "Keep puttin ur time in baby boy I'll get u dere"
"Dear Lord, be good to me your sharks are so big and I am so small"
"If u roll wit us for a day u either gon experience y we do wat we do or y so few of us do it! Its gon be dat great or dat terrible!
hell yea nice fish
Wow, what do u think happen to its tail?
Amazing catch, and a big congrats to all involved. Look at the mass of that thing, and a 4 hour fight, truly incredible. As impressive as that is, what is just as impressive to me is how the fish was sent on it's way without the money shots for Facebook, instagram and all the other (anti)social media networks. The total lack of selfishness, leaving the fish in the water, no ridiculous photo shoot, just trying to get the fish back out there..very refreshing to see these days in the 'look at me' era of (anti)social media. I truly love it.
Big congrats again to all of you and I look forward to see what you pull out of there next.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
John 11:26 KJB 1611 AV
Great work Earnie, you're always prepared for that big one and it has produced you many sharks of envy. This one is just a notch in the belt for you. You're one of the eldest and best around and know so much about what you're doing and you're always willing to teach and share tips on the sport. Congratz again.
Just an average fisherman.
Thanks for all the good comments. It's defiantly a fish of a life time. A young man named Brady White kept wanting to put some baits out off the pier so I decided to go for a few hrs. Uncle Bob Brady and I ran the baits with orca bout an hour before dark. Brady had a fresh 15lb king, Bob had a Bonita and I had a 20 pound ray I gigged a few nights earlier. We just ran short baits mine about 150 yds to the west. Bout 8:00 I got a run. It stopped and I noticed my line slack so I knew it was coming my way. I kept the slack up as it came towards me. Bout 75yds out it turned around long enough to set the circle hook. I felt the heavy fish emedeatly. It took bout 150 yds and went back and forth a minute and blasted off. It made one run that was probably 700/800yds. Bob said it made 6 major runs. Bout half a spool down I had close to 100 lbs of drag on it. Had bout 200yds left when I got it turned around. The rest was a battle for every inch of line. I'd get a half crank at most. Bout 12:10 am Will spud Smith (who showed up bout half way through the fight) grabbed the leader. I grabbed the head rope and got it first try. We quickly took it to the beach. Could not believe the size of it. Amazing to say the least. We measured it. The fork was 11'8". The girth was 92" or 7'8". The total way 13'6" but it's tail was nubbed off and healed up. Probably from breeding or megladon trying to eat it. A great hammer head at the fork is 77% of the total length. From my math it was pushing 14'8" to 14'10". It's between 1450lbs and 1481lbs. Y'all can do the math and see what ya come up with. After the release I reviewed the pics and found the dissapointment of no measurement pics. I'm usually the one getting all the good photos. Can't take a selfi of a fish that size I recon. The experience will be in my mind for the rest of my life. Could not have done it without uncle Bob, Brady, and Will. We did get great video on the pole. It was also the fight I've longed for since the beginning. For the last three years I've hauled an un countable number of baits out with orca. I've hooked so many folks up with great fish along with sharing all my techniques with everyone who fishes with us. May be the fish gods saw what I've been doing and threw me a cookie!!!
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SFSC Panhandle Events Coordinator
Incredible shark, congratulations
Thanks for the backstory too
Absolute monster!! Congrats Earnie!
"He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction" (Proverbs 13:3).
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AWESOME. Congrads. Wow. Great Catch, Great Photos, and Great Report. Thanks for posting.
Jesus-H, absolutely amazing. Wow. Grats you guys this is beyond a new benchmark!
Much respect out to Mr. Polk. He's a living legend among us. Ive personally witnessed the positive Impact he has had on our sport, the people he has helped, and with so many big catches all of that is amazing In Its self. Now this giant of a fish. Wow!!! Congratulations Ernie!!!
This is most definitely a fish of a lifetime. Congrats again.
LaSharkHunter
WOW Awesome catch you got there Earnie great pics & post great job! 
South Florida Shark Club
Team Hammer N The Phenoms
awesome shark Ernie!