[Sticky] Re: Walter Maxwell and his 1780 lb Tiger Shark(S Carolina)

The more complete story. BLAST FROM THE PAST.This monster shark stood for decades as one of the greatest catches ever from land anywhere in the world and was an inspiration for me as a young man to spend many days and nights on a pier,bridge or beach in search of that monster tiger or giant hammerhead.I hope you all enjoy the story it is part of shark fishing history.
Story and pictures by Capt Hal Scharp in his book "SHARK SAFARI"1975

Notice the left handed 16/0,can't get those anymore.

the Cherry Grove pier
Budget Tigers

Tiger Shark. Not every heavyweight record requires big bucks, or big boats. Walter Maxwell managed the tiger shark record without a boat, fighting chair, skipper or other help. He caught his fish off a Carolina pier. He remembers the one that got away best. "The big one nearly overlapped the pier's end," he said. "That's 20 feet long." "The little one I caught only went 13 1/2 feet and, after losing an estimated 10 percent of its body weight, weighed in at 1,780 pounds.

While this record may be broken, it won't be broken from a Carolina pier. After jaws, shore communities barred pier fishing for sharks on the theory it wouldn't help tourism.

Back in 1964, Maxwell, a very fit bricklayer, noted, "Shark fishing was big. We could see stripes on tiger sharks that cruised off the piers. I thought I knew why more fish weren't caught. Fishermen didn't have the right kind of gear."

Maxwell geared up with a 16/0 left-handed Penn Senator purchased at a bargain $135. With a custom rod, 1,300 yards of 130 pound test on the reel and a five pound skate bait on 14/0 Mustad hooks whipped onto a bit less than 30 feet of steel cable, he was ready.

After losing a huge shark on Saturday when it swam away with his pier gaff cutting a periscope wake, Maxwell changed his approach. A couple of 10 foot fish hit on other lines. Then, in the confusion, Maxwell missed his hit. When he looked up the rod tip was down. As he ran to the rail in the confusion of crossed lines and cursing fishermen his fish surged out of the water. As Maxwell remembers, "My tiger rolled again about 200 yards from the pier. It sounded like nothing I'd ever heard." A buddy later reported it looked and sounded like "someone had dumped two bathtubs into the ocean at once."

Maxwell's shark headed down the beach toward Florida. With over one half a mile of line out, Maxwell finally stopped the fish. Line built on the reel, then smoked off. The problem was leverage; Maxwell needed to get down on the beach. After four hours and a half, the big shark rolled under the pier. One hook was bitten off; the other barely held at the corner of the shark's mouth just off it's gnashing teeth.

The wire leader came into reach, but even Andre the Giant couldn't wire a shark from a 20 foot high pier. So Maxwell managed to place his gaff in the shark's mouth. The gaff handle tore free, but the inch-thick gaff line held. Maxwell jumped down to the soft sand, hauled his catch into the shore break and lassoed the shark's head and tail. It took nearly a dozen men on three ropes to strand the huge fish above the surf. The fish lost pounds in the long wait for the wrecker's truck arrival. It still beat the old record by 350 pounds. Fisheries experts agree that, if weighed when caught, it would have topped a ton.

Walter Maxwell with another huge tiger shark caught at Yaupon pier on the North Carolina coast one week before catching his world record 1780 lb tiger shark.
INSPIRATION FOR ALL

A RECENT STORY ON MAXWELL'S EXTRAORDINARY CATCH
ne that didn't get away
World-record 1,780-pound catch led to shark-fishing ban on S.C. piers
By Tommy Braswell (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Jim Michie/provided

Walter Maxwell (center) is surrounded by a crowd of excited spectators after he landed this 1,780-pound tiger shark on June 14, 1964.
Nothing draws a crowd quicker on a Lowcountry beach.

Sun worshipers snap to attention if they see a triangular dorsal fin knifing through the waves.

Tourists flock to see a surf fisherman unhook his catch, marveling at the sandpaper-like skin and the tiny but vicious-looking teeth.

Visitors to South Carolina fishing piers may puzzle over signs saying shark fishing is not allowed.

There's a good reason — chamber of commerce officials don't want bloody baits and big sharks mixed in with swimmers, even though the last fatal attack in this state was in 1883.

Almost a decade before "Jaws" hit the big screen, shark fishing from piers was an accepted and popular practice in South Carolina. But that changed after Walter Maxwell landed a 1,780-pound tiger shark from the end of Cherry Grove Fishing Pier in North Myrtle Beach on June 14, 1964. Maxwell's catch shattered the world record by more than 350 pounds and still stands today in what has been called "Big Game Fishing's Greatest Catch." Maxwell's catch also became the catalyst for banning shark fishing from piers and populated bathing areas.

Maxwell, a stonemason from Charlotte, was part of a hard-core group of fishermen who would gather in the summer and camp on the piers, sleeping fitfully as they listened for the telltale clicker on their big reels signaling the bite of a big shark.

One of Maxwell's closest friends was Jim Michie of Columbia, who had learned to fish for big sharks on the beaches in Texas when he was stationed there in the Navy. When Maxwell decided to invest in his own reel, he purchased the biggest reel made by the Penn Fishing Tackle Co., a left-handed 16/0 Senator that could hold almost a mile of 130-pound-test line. Michie built Maxwell a matching custom rod.

M.C. Meetze was another of that cadre of fishermen, and one of his contributions to the world record effort was a heavy leather fighting harness that would lessen the strain of holding the heavy rod and reel while battling a big shark for hours.

One that got away

Before there can be a great catch story there almost always has to be "one that got away," and that was the case on this June weekend. Michie, who would become an archaeology professor at Coastal Carolina, kept meticulous records. In his journal he wrote that on Saturday, June 13, baits were carried out more than 700 yards by boat. The group of shark fishermen had 17 runs and Maxwell hooked one that was brought to the pier.

Michie told writer Don Millus in an article that appeared in Outdoor Life magazine that the tiger shark was about 18 feet long and "must have gone at least 2,500 pounds."

"Michie had a pole vaulter's pole with a gaff attached, and there were huge swells and he just couldn't hold the fish," Millus said. "The shark swam away with the gaff still in it. As it went out to sea it looked like the periscope of a submarine."

Disappointed but undaunted, the shark fishermen continued their quest the next day. Michie's journal said baits were carried out approximately 800 yards. Michie caught the first fish, a dusky shark that measured 10 1/2 feet and had a 69-inch girth.

"Twenty-seven runs followed. Nick Laney hooked a possible 11-foot tiger, played for 3 hours and was lost around pilings. Walter Maxwell hooked and caught tiger shark."

Spectator sport

Then as today, whenever fishermen would hook a shark, beachgoers gathered to watch the battle. One of those spectators that day was a 14-year-old girl, Susan Hoffer (now McMillan) of Camden. Her parents owned a beach house adjacent to the Cherry Grove Fishing Pier.

"There wasn't a lot to do on the weekends in Cherry Grove, so we were actually there when the fish took the line," McMillan recalled. "It was hours. I remember going home to eat lunch and I was there when they brought (the shark) in."

Millus said the shark made some 30 runs. At times during the 2 1/2- to 3-hour fight, the line on the spool dwindled from the diameter of a bowling ball to that of a 50-cent coin. Maxwell finally brought the huge shark close enough for Michie to sink the gaff, which this time was attached to a heavy rope. Michie then went down to the beach, waded into the surf and attached ropes around the fish's head and tail so it could be dragged onto the beach.

McMillan was part of the crowd standing behind Maxwell and the monstrous shark when Michie took a photograph. She can be seen over Maxwell's left shoulder, looking toward the massive rod and reel Maxwell used to catch the fish.

A wrecker was called to hoist the huge shark onto a flatbed truck. The next day the shark was weighed at Ford's Fuel Service in Loris. Notary Jessie Ruth Graham attested to a weight of 1,780 pounds. The fish measured 13 feet, 10.5 inches and had a girth of 103 inches.

What happened to the giant shark and its mouthful of razor-sharp teeth is fuzzy. Shirley Spence, who was married to Maxwell at the time, said they were busy filling out the paperwork for the world record application and the people who had hauled the shark to Loris were supposed to bury it.

"They took it out and dumped it on somebody's property and we didn't know about it until later," she said. "I think a farmer smelled something and called the sheriff's department. They went out and found it. I think they had the chain gang come out and bury it then. You probably couldn't get away with that today."

One of the teeth, however, was extracted and submitted with the world record application to the International Game Fish Association. Jason Schratwieser, IGFA's conservation director, said the tooth is not overly large, but it can still slice a piece of heavy monofilament like a razor.

The fishermen received plenty of notoriety for their catch. Tom Higgins, a former outdoors writer for the Charlotte Observer, remembers it being one of the first big stories he was assigned as a young reporter.

"I guess it came over the wire and said he was from Charlotte so I started tracking him down," Higgins said. "He was pretty shy but a pretty good talker. Being a country boy like him, I was able to get through to him. It was a hell of a story, how a man could fight a fish like that from the pier."

Another record catch

Maxwell fished all his life, both freshwater and saltwater, Spence said. So when they banned shark fishing from the Myrtle Beach piers, he shifted his attention to pier-fishing in North Carolina.

In 1966, Maxwell landed a 1,150-pound tiger shark off Yaupon Beach Pier, also a state record. The drive to Yaupon Beach was longer, and eventually Maxwell backed off from his coastal fishing trips.

"He had fished all his young life and continued to fish," said Spence, who still has the record-setting rod and reel. We had a little pond behind our house and he fished there until he died."

Maxwell never made any money off his catch. Penn sent him a reel, and the line company, Ashaway, sent him some fishing line. The photo Michie took of Maxwell with his record catch became a best-selling postcard souvenir at Cherry Grove Fishing Pier until the pier was sold. And the pier still proudly displays a photo of Maxwell with his record catch in its tackle shop.

Sue McMillan never thought anything more about the big shark she saw landed when she was 14 until years later, when she was married and had moved to Conway.

"I volunteered on an archaeological dig with Jim Michie's crew," she recalled. "(Jim) was sitting around at lunch talking about this world record tiger shark at the Cherry Grove Pier, and I was like 'Oh my gosh, I was there.' Then he said let me show you the picture and I was 'Oh my gosh, I'm in the picture.' "

McMillan went on to become a research assistant for Michie, a lifelong bachelor who was estranged from his family. Michie developed dementia, and McMillan oversaw his care during his waning years.

During visits to the assisted living facility, she came across Michie's shark-fishing scrapbooks, filled with priceless photos, newspaper clippings and tickets from the fishing piers. The scrapbooks were falling apart and Michie had tossed many of them into the trash.

McMillan retrieved the scrapbooks and during some of Michie's better moments she got him to identify the fishermen and the locations in the photos.

"I knew that was his legacy," she said.

Maxwell died Sept. 29, 1991, at the age of 61, and Michie died July 25, 2004 at the age of 63, but theirs is a story that endures.

A link to the complete story.
http://web.charleston.net/news/2008/aug ... away51527/

A DIFFERENT VERSION OF THE AMAZING CATCH

MAXWELL'S MONSTER SHARK, CAUGHT FROM AN S.C. PIER, MAY BE A RECORD FOREVER
Charlotte Observer, The (NC)
August 21, 1997
Author: TOM HIGGINS, Special Correspondent
Estimated printed pages: 3
It was astounding news, especially among anglers, when young Stephen Manser Jr. weighed in his catch a few weeks ago at Little River, S.C.

Stephen, a Davidson 10-year-old, boated a tiger shark weighing 1,200 pounds while trolling along with his father off the Grand Strand. Surely, it was speculated, this had to be the largest fish ever taken on hook and line in South Carolina waters.
Hardly.

That happened 33 years earlier on June 14, 1964, when Walter Maxwell of Charlotte also caught a tiger shark. Maxwell's monster weighed 1,780 pounds, becoming - and remaining - the world record for the species.

Amazingly, Maxwell hooked and fought the great shark not from a boat well out at sea, but from Cherry Grove Pier!

Those of us who remember the incredible catch experienced the same sensation stirred by the shark of Stephen Manser Jr. We were astounded.

Maxwell's feat of outfighting such a fish from a coastal pier was the biggest story I'd worked on to that time since joining The Observer's sports staff in January of '64.

Walter, a friendly fellow who owned a masonry company, came by the old Observer building to talk about the tremendous tiger he'd taken against incredible odds. He brought along the stout, 14/0 Norwegian steel hook he'd used. His eyes sparkled as he spoke of becoming a devotee of shark fishing and of going after the world record and getting it.

Maxwell is gone now. He died on Sept. 29, 1991, at age 61.

However, his ``fishin' tale'' endures. Dr. Don Millus of Coastal Carolina University wrote an engrossing story detailing Maxwell's marvelous catch for Outdoor Life Magazine in 1984. And Millus also devoted a chapter of his book, ``Fishing The Southeast Coast,'' to the amazing angling accomplishment.

What type tackle was needed to subdue such a shark?

Maxwell was using a 16/0 Penn Senator reel similar in size to a bowling ball. . . . The reel was loaded with 1,400 yards of sand-colored Ashaway Dacron line, 130-pound test. . . . The rod was specially built for Maxwell by shark fishing pal Jim Michie of Columbia. It was made of a 39-thread Shakespeare fiberglass blank with Mildrum guides. . . . Maxwell wore a specially fitted fighting harness of cowhide and a leather rod belt with a socket for the rod butt.

On that June weekend in '64 Maxwell met Michie and Nick Laney, another shark angler from Columbia, at Cherry Grove. They brought along sleeping bags, planning to stay day and night out at the end of the pier.

On June 13, a Saturday, Maxwell hooked a huge tiger shark and in relatively short time, about an hour, worked it to the pier where Michie stood ready with a long, strong gaff. The shark was ``green,'' or still fresh and angry at being hooked, and it took the gaff away from Michie and escaped. Some estimated its size at 18 feet and 2,500 pounds.

Just after dawn on Sunday a friend of the shark fishermen, Bill Smith, offered to take their baits-skates that had been caught during the night-out to deeper water about 200 yards from the end of the pier. He rowed out in a small boat and dropped the baits over the side.

Around 2 p.m. Laney hooked a tiger of about 11 feet. It proved more than he could handle on a 9/0 reel and 50-pound test monofilament line. As the fight waged, something picked up Maxwell's bait and almost instantly was making a sizzling run.

The furious fight had begun.

There was concern the sharks of Laney and Maxwell would cross the lines and tangle. Laney left the pier and followed as the shark he'd hooked headed south. The fish subsequently broke the line and escaped.

Meanwhile, the shark hooked by Maxwell continued to take line. Michie poured water on Maxwell's reel to keep it cool. He finally slowed the fish as it swam three-quarters of a mile from the pier. The line on the reel had ``melted'' from about 7 inches in diameter to the size of a 50-cent coin.

Years of laying stone and brick had built the back and shoulder and arm muscles that enabled Maxwell, then 31, to muster the strength to fight the shark's run-after-run-after-run, approximately 30 of them in all.

After 4-1/2 hours Maxwell worked the fish close enough to the pier for Michie to get a gaff in its mouth. The strong hook took hold and a bit later ropes were attached to the shark and it was pulled ashore.

There seemed no doubt the catch, measuring 13 feet, 10-1/2 inches, would prove an International Game Fish Association world record by weight.

Sure enough, even though the huge tiger, hoisted onto the hook of a wrecker, wasn't taken to certified scales inland at Loris, S.C., until 9 a.m. the next day.

Experts estimated that the shark lost 10 percent of its weight overnight, so the creature with teeth 4 inches long probably weighed close to a ton when it went mano-a-mano with Maxwell.

A few fishing records are deemed unlikely to be broken.

Walter Maxwell's ranks high among them, a listing that could last forever.