# "A Dream of a Nightmare" Giant 14ft Hammerhead Caught and Released From the Beach!



## landsharkfishing

*"A Dream of a Nightmare" Giant 14ft Hammerhead Caught and Released From the Beach!*

Every once in a while we are faced with great opportunities and chances to make our fantasies a reality. Well this past week I was able to do just this.... 

This year has been a hectic one for me between work and upper division college courses the time to fish or even think about those grizzly teeth has been slowly fading as I get older. However that shark fever I was infected with years ago is ever present and has established a permanent residence within me. 

Slowly i've been gathering bait over the past winter, by hitting up the local marinas and diving for rays off the beach in hopes of having a buffet to offer this spring. Well the bait came pretty easily, but the bites we had fishing were far and few in-between with many nights silent as the clickers on our reels that never made a squeak. This was not looking good for us, but everything changed last week when one more attempt yielded a prize to treasure for years. The link to the video is below as well as at the bottom of the report
http://youtu.be/Ig_iahEVA0I

The night started out as usual unloading bricks and kayaks leaving the tourists and snowbirds in a state of dismay. We had paddled baits out one on garrets Avet and the other on my brand new 14/0, keep in mind this is the first time this reel had ever been fished and boy was it blessed. We had a hit on garrets rod and after a couple of drops and pickups he got tight with a nice fat sandbar at the other end. While he was fighting his fish My rod doubles over and then goes slack and after waiting a couple of minutes I leave the rod in the spike, to assist garrett in landing his fish. We land the sandbar, get a couple pics and send her on her way. As I'm looking back at my rod I notice its still slack and so I quickly run over to reel it in and prepare to paddle it out again. As I'm reeling in I notice something didn't feel right as the line got tight in a matter of seconds and line started pouring off the spool. I yell over to Brook and Garrett and tell them that we are hooked up. At this point I'm thinking its not going to be very big and so I lock up the drag and to my surprise line keeps disappearing. I yell "I hope you guys know what this is" and in a frantic state the thoughts of that sickle fin protruding from the water have been embedded in my mind. Garrett swiftly straps me into my harness and it's game on! This is two Alpha predators duking it out in a battle of tug and war. Once we realized it was just the three of us we wanted to make sure everything went flawless when the fish hit the sand and so we called in for reinforcements to ensure a safe and quick revival. Brook called up our buddies Chad, Joey and Ben and they all arrived shortly after. Only 30 minutes had gone by and I was able to recover the 300yds of mono the shark had swept back into his domain and we were finally getting close or so we thought...

The shark made another 350 yard run this time with such an aggressive nature I began to worry this fish had just awoken and was hellbound. After about an hour of being in positions only seen in the matrix my strength was wearing thin as every muscle in my body began to convulse. I knew that I had to continue on, because this is what we wait for all year and I had to make sure I fought it till the end. Slowly, inches began to turn into feet and progress was being made as the beast made the notorious side to side runs allowing the angler to retrieve line. I had signaled everyone to get into their positions and for everyone to be on their A game as I wanted this fish to swim away fast and strong. As garret walked towards the black abyss known as the Atlantic his headlamp started reflecting light that made out an image of a very large dorsal fin. We were all very anxious at this point knowing for sure we had a hammer on and of justifiable size. Shortly after we see a massive tail 8 ft behind its tail and start looking at each other placing our dropped jaws back into each others mouthes. The giant did not want to give in and was stubbronly mocking us as it rode the swells just past the sandbar. I knew i had to turn this fish now before it made another run for its money and so I gave it everything I got leaning back, ASS to the mother fucking grass in that harness and winching the fish in. Garrett and Chad made there way into the waist deep trough and secured the dream that I had been waiting for. 

I ran throwing my 14/0 to the side , walking into a situation I had been envisioning in my head for years and was stunned at the size of this fish. We all grabbed onto the rope and started heaving the fish back into our turf. Amongst the chaos we snapped as many pics as we could while My girlfriend Brook was diligently recording the giant hammer with the go pro. She quickly hoped in a few pics and I began to scream "we need to get the fish back in". After a quick snip of the wire and a glance at the perfectly positioned and yet terrifyingly loose hook, we turned the fish and began dragging it back in. We got to about waist deep water and Ben screams to us "watch out guys" as he sees the fish about to make a move in this two winner game. With one massive kick the fish was on its way and had shown no signs of weakness or exhaustion. Me and Ben followed the fish out till our necks were submerged and to this day we have never seen a more terrifying and yet rewarding site than that massive dorsal swim right back to where it belongs. 

We had no measuring tape with us that night and honestly I did not care to get a measurement as I did not want to waste anytime in getting that fish back in the water. I have caught about a dozen hammers in my day now and have put a 12 footer on the beach and can assure anyone this fish was mid 13'6-14ft in length. It appeared to be a stout pissed off male and was definitely the heaviest fish I have dragged or helped dragged onto the beach. Judgements are up to you if you want to say it was 9ft be my guest, but at the end of the day this was a remarkable experience for not only me but a great group of friends and girlfriend I would not trade for the world. This was truly a "dream of a nightmare"





To see the whole thing on video click on the link below
http://youtu.be/Ig_iahEVA0I


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## buckfever

Thats awesome. I have yet to catch a shark, but i plan to start making the effort to do so soon. Congratulations 

Sent from my LG-LS995 using Tapatalk


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## badonskybuccaneers

Nice fish, great story.


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## Jason

What a beast!!!! Awesome job!


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## Hopin4aboat

Awesome catch


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## jmunoz

Awsome!

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk


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## prelude13

Simply Amazing! Now how do you top that?


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## thedude

haha, 4 posts and this dude is droppin' loads like this? well done, bro, while you are out there catching phantoms, keep an eye out for flight 370 please


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## CCC

Did you catch in the Atlantic (East side of Florida) or the gulf ? Great massive fish !


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## Hawkseye

Well done! THAT...is a night to remember.


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## Xiphius

What a night! Congrats on the ethics to return the shark to the ocean, we see far too many mature sharks dockside and then in the dumpster with their jaws removed


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## johnf

I caught a 10' hammer last year and this thing is significantly bigger than mine. That's a beast man, congrats.:thumbup:


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## Guynamedtom

That is a fish of a lifetime and an awesome write up man. congrats to you and the team on that monster


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## Gulflady

Grats!!! Great shark, story, pics and video


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## Realtor

Oh Yeah!


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## Justin618

CCC said:


> Did you catch in the Atlantic (East side of Florida) or the gulf ? Great massive fish !



It was on the Atlantic side.

OP, If BHC wasn't canceled I would have Definitely entered if I were you. Looks like you got it down.

truly a monster. I'm gonna say at LEAST 14'


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## castnet

Another good reason why I own a good boat and don't swim or wade in the water. Nice job guys/girls.


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## Ocean Master

Easily 14' and a great story..!!!


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## MoganMan

Justin618 said:


> It was on the Atlantic side.
> 
> OP, If BHC wasn't canceled I would have Definitely entered if I were you. Looks like you got it down.
> 
> truly a monster. I'm gonna say at LEAST 14'


What a pig! Idk how it caught it without using a 130w though


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## ThaFish

MoganMan said:


> Idk how it caught it without using a 130w though


Dude I was wondering the same thing! Surely this was a fluke…. But I believe you meant "Idk how it was caught without using TWO 130 wides" dawg! 

But for real, what a HOSS! Catch of a lifetime right there. Enjoyed reading the story as well.


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## Justin618

ThaFish said:


> Dude I was wondering the same thing! Surely this was a fluke…. But I believe you meant "Idk how it was caught without using TWO 130 wides" dawg!
> 
> But for real, what a HOSS! Catch of a lifetime right there. Enjoyed reading the story as well.


Get off my nuts already. Damn dude.

Idk of anyone who catches one fish with 2 reels tho....

Wait a 6/0 would have caught this hammer too, right? Lol. Riiight. This is coming From a guy who told someone on here braid gives same capacity as mono....


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## Justin618

MoganMan said:


> What a pig! Idk how it caught it without using a 130w though


Since when did they make a 130w? You and ThaFish getting married soon?


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## MoganMan

Justin618 said:


> Since when did they make a 130w? You and ThaFish getting married soon?[/QUOTE
> 
> Wasn't planning on it, last time I checked we were just good friends, I might pop the question next time I see him though.


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## Justin618

MoganMan said:


> Justin618 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since when did they make a 130w? You and ThaFish getting married soon?[/QUOTE
> 
> Wasn't planning on it, last time I checked we were just good friends, I might pop the question next time I see him though.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You should. So who is on bottom? Must be ThaFish with that chick hair.
> 
> Since when did people start caring what other people use?
Click to expand...


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## CCC

My "Shark" rig is a Penn 309 level wind on a shakespear sturdy stick that cost less than $100.00 for the entire rig, I NEVER use braid simply 30 lb mono and have caught many 7 and 8 footers over the past 3 seasons, now mind you that wasn't from shore but I am sure what they had could do the job. Now I KNOW my rig couldn't have done that but they did WELL with what they had !


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## ThaFish

Justin618 said:


> MoganMan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Since when did people start caring what other people use?
> 
> 
> 
> The same time people started crying every time people don't hold fish how you like them to be held.
Click to expand...


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## Justin618

ThaFish said:


> Justin618 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The same time people started crying every time people don't hold fish how you like them to be held.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't care how you hold it. Just looks really stupid trying to make a fish look bigger.
> 
> But, seriously get off my nuts already. It's sad that even post is about my set ups lately
Click to expand...


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## MoganMan

Justin618 said:


> MoganMan said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should. So who is on bottom? Must be ThaFish with that chick hair.
> 
> Since when did people start caring what other people use?
> 
> 
> 
> The dumb ones always do rely on insults it seems...
Click to expand...


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## ThaFish

MoganMan said:


> Justin618 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The dumb ones always do rely on insults it seems...
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks hubby, was just gonna say that. <3
Click to expand...


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## Justin618

MoganMan said:


> Justin618 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The dumb ones always do rely on insults it seems...
> 
> 
> 
> Lol. This is coming from a guy who insulted me on my set ups just now..haha you're killing me. Just go take a nap
Click to expand...


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## MoganMan

Justin618 said:


> MoganMan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lol. This is coming from a guy who insulted me on my set ups just now..haha you're killing me. Just go take a nap
> 
> 
> 
> Was actually about to, unlike some fair weather fishermen, I actually spent a lot of nights on the beach this winter shark fishing, I try to get sleep whenever I can now a days.
Click to expand...


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## Justin618

MoganMan said:


> Justin618 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Was actually about to, unlike some fair weather fishermen, I actually spent a lot of nights on the beach this winter shark fishing, I try to get sleep whenever I can now a days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok.........Never saw any reports so keep it up
> 
> Amyways, nice derail MoganMan just to hate on some reels.
> 
> Back on topic
Click to expand...


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## MoganMan

Justin618 said:


> MoganMan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok.........Never saw any reports so keep it up
> 
> Amyways, nice derail MoganMan just to hate on some reels.
> 
> Back on topic
> 
> 
> 
> I agree, sorry for the hijack of a legendary accomplishment. And I never said I got any! Have many people who can vouch for the time I have put in.
Click to expand...


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## landsharkfishing

Thanks for all the support everyone!


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## pcfisher22

I'd be nervous standing anywhere near that giant mouth! That's insane!


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## Retro

Wirelessly posted

Great work. Thanks for the cool video!


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## snapdewey

Just saw your story on the front page of Yahoo.


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## parrothead

Wow!!!! What a story. Very well done. Massive fish you guys caught. Congrats !!!! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Scott


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## jmunoz

Your famous son! I've seen this on prolly 20 big pages on Facebook and our local news just posted it to 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk


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## CCC

So WHERE was this caught, it was posted that it was Atlantic, but yet Pensacola News Journal is posting it was caught on P.cola Beach ???????


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## tailfisher1979

The sand in the pics is definitely not our beach. Looks like gritty east coast sand.


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## DavidM

Boca Raton, Fl according to Google.


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## thedude

why would anyone take this video/post seriously anyway, didn't most of you tools notice one of those bros is wearing Jorts? Jorts are not meant for shark fishing, they are meant for shopping at Walmart bare footed...


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## Anydayfishingisagoodday

Great Catch and Release!


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## WhyMe

What a fish. Great story.
WhyMe 
Mako My Dayo

Sent from a cool device called RapCat


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## hjorgan

Great googa mooga!


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## hjorgan

*What a douche bag..*



thedude said:


> why would anyone take this video/post seriously anyway, didn't most of you tools notice one of those bros is wearing Jorts? Jorts are not meant for shark fishing, they are meant for shopping at Walmart bare footed...


This guy is forever alone.....


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## Blacktip Hunter

Great catch Victor!


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