A world-record setting 14-foot hammerhead shark, has been caught and released by professional golfer Greg Norman.
Norman, an avid fisherman, is known as The Shark for his style of play on the golf course. Besides his Professional Golf Association and European Tour championships, he may now hold a new record for the 14-foot 7 3/8-inch, estimated 1,200-pound hammerhead shark.
The hammerhead was caught in a very unusual way off the coast of Florida.
Josh Jorgensen was flying his drone when he spotted a school of blacktip sharks swimming off shore. He called his fishing buddy, professional golfer, Greg Norman, The Shark.
The two met the following day and hit the water in Norman’s 41-foot boat, traveling along the coast, where they began fishing.
“Josh is flying the drone and we hooked a blacktip and all of a sudden this giant hammerhead came flying in on the blacktip,” Norman said. “It was the most incredible scene I’ve ever witnessed.”
The 14-foot hammerhead swam around with the smaller shark in its mouth as Jorgensen, host of BlacktipH fishing, filmed the scene using his drone.
“I’m keeping my nerves as calm as possible,” Jorgensen said. “ . . . I don’t want to ruin the shot.
“Then the unexpected unfolds, the hammerhead drops the blacktip, comes back around and picks it up again; all of a sudden he swallowed this 80-pound shark and took off.”
Norman fought the shark, which they estimated weighed over 1,200 pounds, for more than an hour. The shark towed the boat, roughly 23,000 pounds, at a speed of one knot, as he tired out the fish.
“When you see that fish for the first time up against my 41-foot-boat you go holy moly, this thing is huge. It’s bigger than I ever anticipated,” Norman said.
The anglers ran a rope along the shark’s body and marked the head and tail locations. Then, they ran a tape measure along the rope and found the shark was an astonishing 14-feet 7 3/8 inches long.
They removed the hook and began reviving the shark by pulling it along side the boat for about 30 minutes. After releasing the shark, the group jumped in the water and watched the shark swim off.
Using the measurements taken, Jorgensen said the shark came in at 4 inches longer than the current world record length for a hammerhead.
Anglers who catch hammerhead sharks should be aware that the shark is prone to lactic acid build up from extended fight times which can be detrimental to the fish.
Putting that kind of stress on a Hammerhead will, according to marine biologists, exhaust the shark and likely cause its death. Do a little research and quit bragging about a shark towing your 41 ft. boat . . . that kind of B.S. is for Shark Week.
We dive/swim with large sharks every week around Jupiter (where you live) taking photos and videos . . . not putting their lives in danger.