13'9" Blacktip Challenge Monster

It was the second night of the 6th annual Blacktip Challenge land-based shark fishing tournament. We arrived at the beach and we had to wait about 1.5 hours before we could start fishing because the seaweed was too thick to paddle out baits and the tide was low. When the seaweed subsided, Peter Buban kayaked out his bait using a large stingray 300yds. After Peter Buban and Peter Barrett kayaked out the remaining three rods, Peter Wahl from Germany walked down the beach to catch sharks to prevent from tangling with the other lines. An hour later Peter Wahl saw a giant dorsal fin cruising on the surface of the water.  He began to scream at his other teammates that a huge shark was in the area. Shortly after, Peter Buban’s line began screaming! Peter was using a Shimano Tiagra 130 spooled with 200lb braid and 200lb mono topshot. He put the lever drag at full and was gripping the spool with both hands as the line continued to peel off the reel. The shark took between 800-900yds of line in the first run. Peter Buban was holding onto the rod with everything he had trying to stop the shark. During the fight several boats cruising the beach almost cut the line. Peter Barrett had to hold the line down to prevent anything from happening.  Forty-five minutes later the shark was landed. The circle hook was removed from the mouth and the shark was quickly measured and documented before being released back into the water. It was a monster great hammerhead that measured 13ft 9inches. The shark was out of the water less than a minute and half. Peter Buban and Peter Barrett followed the shark in their kayaks out 200yds to make sure that it was okay.