[Sticky] 2012 WORLD'S BIGGEST SHARKS, a 14' 2 "and a 13' ft 3"HAMMER

FIRST PLACE (as of 2/9/12)MARK RESTO 14 FT 2 INCH

14 foot 2 inch will be hard to beat in 2012 but it may very well be beaten,,,,we'll have to wait and see

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.

the 13ft 3 inch Hammer in the Big Hammer Challenge

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