Massive 900-Pound Tiger Shark Caught by Fisherman on 'Monster Fish' Trip
A Florida fishing company reeled in a 900-pound tiger shark in a specialty trip on Sunday. According to multiple reports, the shark was believed to be pregnant.
Florida's WFLA reported on Thursday that father-son duo Michael and Nicholas Braun were visiting from Montana to join a specialty fishing charter through Pelagic Color Fishing Company called "Pelagic Monsters." Their hopes were to catch some pretty big fish. Predators, to be exact.
According to the company's website, the specialty trip "targets the top apex predators of the Gulf of Mexico," such as hammerhead sharks, mako sharks and goliath groupers, among others.
The company promised that the specialty charter would provide memories to last a lifetime, and on Sunday, it appears the trip delivered on that promise for the Brauns.
"[They] couldn't believe what they experienced," the company told WFLA.
Fox 13 News reported the boat's captain, Jonathan "Hollywood" McPherson, took the Brauns to a reef off the coast of Sarasota known as D6 where the group caught two goliath groupers. They were hoping for a bigger catch since, according to the report, two fishermen told McPherson that they'd caught two rainbow runners, which are known for traveling with sharks, at that same reef the previous day.
Fox 13 reported that McPherson used a 30-pound barracuda as bait in the hopes of reeling in a shark. Of course, the bait worked.
After some time, the Brauns noticed a pulling on the line. Fox 13 said Nicholas Braun initially tried to reel in the catch but the line broke. So McPherson set out another line which resulted in an "epic fight" five minutes later.
"We hooked two massive goliath groupers, then reeled in the largest tiger shark I've ever seen," Michael Braun told the outlet. "One of the craziest fishing experiences of my life."
The tiger shark was 13-feet long and weighed 900 pounds.
"After a few circles, it came up and we were shocked," McPherson told the outlet. "After reeling in a massive shark, I put on my gloves and we measured it against the side of the boat. ...The belly was huge. She was clearly pregnant."
The company told Fox 13 News that the groupers and the shark were safely released.
Tiger sharks typically grow to be between 10 and 14-feet long, according to National Geographic, and weigh an average of 850 to 1,400 pounds. They have been dubbed "man-eaters," because they are "second only to great whites in attacking people."
They are scavengers, meaning they will eat just about anything. National Geographic reports that sea snakes, seals and even old tires have been found in the stomach contents of captured tiger sharks.
As of now, tiger sharks are listed as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List, meaning they could become "vulnerable" in the future. Fishing is a major threat to their population, as they are harvested for their fins, skin and their livers, which contain high amounts of Vitamin A.
