2012 RECORD SETTING YEAR 14' 2" AND A 13' 3" HAMMER

Two huge hammerhead sharks one a 14 ft 2 inch and a 13 ft 3 inch have made this year a HISTORIC one for land based shark fishing.2012 has been everything we predicted and more .For years we have been saying it's time to break 14 ft and finally after trying so hard for so many years it has been done once again.I cannot remember the last time two sharks OVER 13 foot were caught in the same year.The years to come will see better fishermen in our sport producing some really amazing catches .The fishermen who caught these MONSTER FISH deserve our praise.We are getting better at this sport and whether we can top 14 ft 2 inch in 2013 remains to be seen and had never been done since 1974 when Rene de Dios caught a hammerhead shark nearly as long at an even 14 foot.By understanding better the places we fish and when to fish them we are becoming every year that passes better atuned and almost expert at our unique endeavour of chasing monster sharks from shore.From the post on this website everyone can see we hooked and fought more MONSTER SHARKS then any previous year.We are fishing harder and getting better results and anything is possible from one moment to the next on these pages.Watch out for guys fishing the west coast
passes and watch out for the one's on the East coast fishing tarpon and blacktip infested beaches because they will be the ones attracting and hooking these 'TACKLE BUSTING BEHEMOTHS'. A quick thanks once again to Mark Resto and Rico Diamandi two Junior anglers who proved that dream fish can become reality.Here are there giant sharks.

Mark Resto's 14 foot 2 inch hammerhead shark

I wasn't thinking of it at the time but this hammerhead was the SUPERBOWL SUNDAY SHARK. I even got yelled at by some friends for not watching the game but it was the least of the thoughts on my mind.

I heard from some inside sources that some bull sharks have been around locally... I called up Dan aka Blacktip aka the British guy, we knew it was SUPERBOWL Sunday and figured less people would be around to mess with us. So I looked at the tide charts and planned it out so we headed out with some baits to fish one spot where we met up with Tony aka seawolf and Joe aka sandtiger... joe's 16/0 got picked up by a small bull shark, he set the hook and fought it for a while but the line popped for some reason. That spot had some wake-boarders and jetskiiers so we got tired of it. We left to hit up a marina to check for some baits where we got a kingfish head and a almaco jack carcass. Then we bought some snacks and headed off to spot 2. We deployed baits a short drop with massive rocks but the current was still too strong and our baits swept to the side and into the flats where there was less current. We sat around for about an hour or 2 figuring there were no fish around... the seaweed had my bait floating on the surface and all of the sudden Dan yells look and I turn around and something had bashed the surface a ways out near our baits... simultaneously my rod screams, i pick it up and put it in freespool, give it 20 seconds and did the running man (I only had a kingfish head) , the fish was there and I had my drag set at about 55-65lbs and it started burning me steady but fast as hell, i sat down and tightened up a little more but there was no stopping it.

She burned 400 yards then slowed down a little, I figured it was a big bull shark considering the area so I put my hands on the spool to put additional drag and stopped him, it turned and swam in fast and I gained a lot of line but it dumped me back out to the same spot. I needed Dan's assistance strapping in to a waist harness for support. I couldn't gain line power winching so I got up, held the spool, and walked way up the beach and ran back gaining line and did this 2 or 3 times. The shark was getting too close to a curve on the beach so we went back towards it and got the line in a better position and from there it was 100 yards away, I still thought it was a bull shark but then it surfaced and all I saw was a yellowish color so I thought it was a lemon... it surfaced once more and I thought it was a bull. It wasn't until it was 50 yards in the giant sickle fin verified what it was. When it got close I dropped my rod and rushed towards the swivel figuring it was my first hammer I didn't want to lose it.OMG what a fish! We had it beached within an hour of hooking it. The fish weighed too much her girth was huge. Just the 2 of us wasn't enough to get it out of the water. We snapped some pictures with our dying camera, measured it at 170 inches and spent the next hour walking back and forth with HER reviving her did about 10 laps along the beach, we ran into 3 or 4 rays in the process and it came close to biting me when it swung around a few times. But it swam off slow and steady and I was satisfied with the release.

She taped out at 14ft 2inches and an estimated girth of 65-75inches which gives it an estimated weight of 800-1000lbs.

Thanks a lot for the help Dan and for the support from everyone on here, I'm glad I got that one and even more satisfied that she swam off. I have been really chasing sharks after 2008 when I got my first shark (a 7.5ft spinner) and for some reason I had a 2 year dry run with no sharks landed, then in 2011 I got a 10ft tiger early in the year and an 8.5ft bull and some other very very nice land based catches, this year I wasn't able to make any successful trips until February 5th when I got this shark. I try to show my support for land based shark fishing in all nooks and crannies of the world and I am a catch and release shark fisherman because I hope that one day I'll be able to go out and catch my sharks again.

Team: Hammer Wranglers
Angler: Rico Diamandi (Junior Angler)
Shark: 13' 3" Hammer (Female)
Tagged, Dehooked, and swam off strong