Matt Pemberton catches sharks for a living. As part of Off The Beach Shark Fishing Trips, he takes tourists and locals alike all over the beach to catch the biggest fish in the water, and catch the biggest fish they did when a 600-pound mako shark caught their line.
As expected, the 10-foot beast put up a fight, taking seven men and an hour and a half of tug of war before being reeled in. Customers on the trip were naturally surprised. They had expected to meet some big fish out in the ocean but were not prepared to encounter anything as big as the mako shark they hauled. Unfortunately, after experiencing something like that, it's going to be hard to go back to tamer fishing.
Douglas Harlan, a customer vacationing from Indiana, said fishing is not going to be the same when he gets back home, but he'll do what he can.
"I enjoy fishing, but I will definitely be back down here trying to catch a bigger fish," he added.
Pemberton understands Harlan fully.
"You catch fish in a river and you catch fish in a lake, but you come out to the ocean and it's a whole different story," he said.
The mako shark was caught at night. Once ashore, Pemberton and his crew filleted the shark and shared their bounty with friends and family.
It's normal for the average mako shark to grow up to 10 feet in length but they generally weigh only around 300 pounds, making the catch Pemberton and his crew made definitely remarkable. What's also notable is that despite their size, mako sharks are also fast swimmers, swimming at speeds of up to 60 mph when hunting or migrating. On a typical day though, they still log speeds of around 35 mph.
There are two types of mako sharks: shortfin and longfin. Shortfin makos are more widely spread than their longfin counterparts, which are also referred to as big-eye makos. Whether shortfin or longfin, mako sharks feature striking coloring on their top sides, turning silver at the sides and white underneath. Shortfins have snow-white mouths, however, while longfins have shaded coloration on the underside of their snouts and around their mouths.
Ernest Hemingway was also highly impressed by mako sharks, depicting them as monsters marauding as marlin in his novel "The Old Man and The Sea."
