sharkark's Gandy Bridge 9 ft 3 inch Bull (1978)

Keith Knecht(sharkark) and his 9 ft 3 inch Bull shark with a calculated weight of 586 lbs
Keith Knecht's STORY of the 9 -3 BULL
This shark was caught off Gandy Bridge. It hit at 2 AM in the morning. The bait was a 25# Black Drum that had been in the water since 10:45 PM. It was a full moon, light winds and clear, and there had been thunder storms earlier that evening. High tide was at 4AM. I was using a Harnell 550 and Penn # 80 International with 80# Dacron. The leader was 1/16 " 7X7 cable about 12' long. Tandem hooks with the front being a 12/0 and the back one a 10/0. Water temp was 85'. The fight took 1 hour and 50 minutes. It started on the catwalk and ended there. The shark swam parallel to the bridge and when it reached the end of the catwalk I had to climb up on the bridge. I had "fun" with the street light posts. Having to unsnap the harness and pass the rod around them was a bear. At one point I had only one side of the harness unsnapped, all of a sudden the shark took off and the loose harness pinned one of my arms back against my body. I couldn't move it. I finally managed to back off on the drag and get my arm free. The fight took me from Pinellas county into Hillsboroughand then all of the way back into Pinellas county. The shark was 9'3" and had a whopping 65" girth. By formula 586#. The stomach had the head and bill from an alligator that I would estimate would have been at least 6' and two flippers from a turtle. This shark was caught in 1978 one day before O'Niells Shark fishing Tournament. The winning shark that year was a 350 # Bull.