# Whats the biggest shark you've ever seen?



## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I was just talking about htis with a guy in here a minute ago who said he saw a 12ft hammerhead the other day while he was offshore. He said it was the biggest shark he ever saw.

The biggest one I saw was about 6 years on an overnight tuna trip. We were motoring around the rig (Ram-Powell) watching the depthfinder trying to locate some deep running fish when something caught my eye behind the boat. It was deep at first so it didn't look that big but it kept growing the further up it came. It turned out to be a tiger shark around 14ft with a massive girth. That shark was probably 1400-1500lbs! It bumped the outboards for a minute and then started swimming alongside the boat for a minute before fading away. That was the only time I've ever felt nervous on the boat from a shark.

So, not counting whale sharks, whats the biggest maneater you've seen?


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## ?MEGA (Jan 31, 2009)

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=03856294107



imsure everyone around here heard of this one. 





the guy standing next to the girl captain holding the right fin in the pic does most of my painting. Said they pulled right next to it as it was eating a porpoise and stuck a flying gaff right in his ass. Spun the boat 180 degrees a couple times. Said the guys hands that cleated off the rope got turned into raw meat. He has an awesome picture of the shark hoisted on the boat from destin they called to help bring it in and it is at an almost 45 degree angle lean.


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## Capt.Eugene (Nov 28, 2008)

26 foot Tiger Shark when I shrimping. 15 foot Atlantic Blue still have these jaws for the blue. FORGOT THE WHALE SHARK THIS YEAR OFF OF Fort Morgan.



SOME MONSTERS OUT THERE (AND ON THE BEACH TOO) no swimming for me:nonono


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## konz (Oct 1, 2007)

The largest I've seen wasa 13' hammer head feeding on a school of ladyfish. I was catching said ladyfish for bait and when that big bastard swam under the boat, I literally could not get the word shark out of my mouth. I was speechless!


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## bigone (Jan 2, 2008)

Funny timing for this question, Just got back from the Farallon islands, me and high school buddy always wanted to see Great Whites, so we went with Shark diving international out of San Fransico. 28 miles off the coast, Farallon islands major seal population, Saw one live seal attack, waited all day 4:30pm first shark came by the boat, dive master est at easy 18ft with a 6-8ft diameter, awesome fish the only way I could give you to picture in your mind, is to visualized a rhinocerous with fins thats exactly what it looked like. Waiting for video from my buddy, pics came out shitty because shark was 5-7 under the surface, and didn.t photograph well,

If your interested wasn't that bad, we were topside observers(not getting into 54 degree water) 375.00, cage divers 750.00. about a 90% chance of seeing whites in the fall at the Farallon's, Dive master said 100% chance of seeing them in the Isle of Guadalope spring and summer, but that trip is 3-4 days out of San Diego and about 3500k.

Cool trip, off the bucket list.


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## FelixH (Sep 28, 2007)

Saw a big hammerhead once after a dive, while waiting for the boat to pick me up.

Saw a whaleshark a couple months ago.


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## ishmel407 (May 7, 2008)

The two biggest I have seen where when I used to work on Charter boats out of Dauphin Island. The First was a Tiger Shark about 14 to 16 ft long. The story was we had gone to this same rig everyday and caught our limit of amberjacks. Us and the rest of the fleet would go to this rig everyday and catch 6 to 10 amberjack per boat per day so there had to be a LARGE amount of amberjack on this rig. So oneday when we are about to pull up to the rig I told the Captain that I wanted to dive over with the mask and look in the water so I could see how many of these amberjackwhere in the water. We back up to the rig and drop down andwe hook up pretty quickly and we pull away from the rig andas we are doing this I am getting all the stuff ready to jump in the water once we get the fished gaffed. The guys gets the fish to the top of the water and its about 25 pound snapper and I am standing atop the gunnel to gaff the fish and then jump overboard once the fish is in the boat. When I reach back to get the gaff I see the guy lowering his rod into the water and when I turn around there is this 14 foot tiger shark with the whole 25 pound snapper in his mouth. I jumped down off the gunnel into the boat and snatch the rod and the shark lets the snapper go. Pulled the snapper into the boat and it didnt have a scratch on it. And the whole fish was inside the mouth of the shark and not a cut scratch or nothing. He swam around the boat for a minute and then left. I never jumped in to look and see how many amberjack where there. The back of the boat we were on was 12 or 14 feet wide and he was alot longer than the boat was wide.

The second one was about a 16 foot Hammerhead. We were crusing along with a charterand the lady on the boat said she thought she saw a shark and I told her that it was prolly a dolphin and that most the time people think dolphins are sharks. She said no I think that is prolly a shark cause his fin was sticking so far out the water. I looked over and ther was a fin sticking about 4 or 5 foot out of the water and it was so heavy that the fin was laying over somewhat on its side from the weight being out of the water. Kinda like a Orca looks in captivity but not curled around just layed over.We cut the boat towards the shark and cut the engines off and coasted right up to it and the hammer on the sharkwas about 6 feet at least across and the shark had another foot of fin below the water. The shark was at least 1500 pounds. Had to be. Was a huge shark and deffinetly bigger than any other shark I have seen.


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## HaterAide (Nov 9, 2007)

> *tunapopper (10/14/2009)*ISo, not counting whale sharks, whats the biggest maneater you've seen?





> *capt.eugene (10/14/2009)* FORGOT THE WHALE SHARK THIS YEAR OFF OF Fort Morgan.





> *FelixH (10/14/2009)*Saw a whaleshark a couple months ago.


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## K-Bill (May 14, 2009)

> *capt.eugene (10/14/2009)*26 foot Tiger Shark when I shrimping.


i just wanna make sure i'm reading this right. that's freakin insane if there's no typo there.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

> *K-Bill (10/14/2009)*
> 
> 
> > *capt.eugene (10/14/2009)*26 foot Tiger Shark when I shrimping.
> ...


If true, thats something


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

Roddy Pate caught a 14ft. hammerhead off of Navarre Pier years ago. I helped drag the shark to the beach and it was a monster. 

I had a shark eat a 40lb. bull dolphin right at the boat. It literally swallowed the dolphin whole. The shark looked over 15ft. long and looked exactly like a white shark.


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## HaterAide (Nov 9, 2007)

I'm going to have to slip my boots on to read this thread all day...


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## Jaw Jacker (Jul 29, 2009)

13' 6"


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## Buckyt (Oct 1, 2007)

A friend and I were trolling in our bass boat off the coast of Destin when a huge hammerhead about 12' long swam up to our 17' boat and looked at us about 3' from the boat. The fish then swam under the boat and swam off with his fin out of the water.

We were awestruck at the beauty of this beast!


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

Hammerhead (13-14 ft) about 22 miles SE of Pensacola Pass in 2002. We were bottom fishing and it swam by a couple of feet from the boat. Impressive sight,


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## dockmaster (Sep 27, 2007)

In the late 80's I saw two 15-18ft great whites tearing up a dead whale in Monterey Bay, less than 2 miles from where 200 abalone divers were in the water. Non withstanding the length, the girth is whats amazing. Plus they swam around the boat we were on, afraid of nothing. The most amazing thng I have ever seen on the ocean. Of course I took pics, and damn if I can find them. 

I did most of my CG career in Northern CA and great whites are all over the place. You just dont hear about them until there hungry. There's no lack of seals for the meals either!!


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## skram (Dec 25, 2007)

12ft.+ tiger at petronius. I've sure bigger ones have seen me though. coast guard called us out of the water in ventura ca. said there were a couple 15ft. + white sharks right outside of us surfing after they dragged a dead whale from the beach. the ones you don't see are the ones that scare me.


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## redfish maniac (Jul 19, 2008)

About a year ago, my son & I were running back from Pensacola Pass in our 19' Center Console towards the boat ramp around Navy Point; and saw a huge shark basking on the surface of the Bay, not moving, maybe 125' feet from us. I guessed it was a Tiger or a Bull.......and not more than 3 to 4 feet smaller than the boat. I was really in shock, but told my son to loop back around for a closer look. When we turned around, he had left. Don't think I'll be flounder gigging or wading anywhere near there anytime soon.


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## Capt.Eugene (Nov 28, 2008)

> *K-Bill (10/14/2009)*
> 
> 
> > *capt.eugene (10/14/2009)*26 foot Tiger Shark when I was shrimping.
> ...






Well lets say this.



The Boat was* twenty four foot wide * (24) the fish was *longer than it was wide* and it was caught in a net shrimping.


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

*I believe it.*

*From the National Geographic site:*

Tiger sharks are named for the dark, vertical stripes found mainly on juveniles. As these sharks mature, the lines begin to fade and almost disappear.

These large, blunt-nosed predators have a duly earned reputation as man-eaters. They are second only to great whites in attacking people. But because they have a near completely undiscerning palate, they are not likely to swim away after biting a human, as great whites frequently do.

They are consummate scavengers, with excellent senses of sight and smell and a nearly limitless menu of diet items. They have sharp, highly serrated teeth and powerful jaws that allow them to crack the shells of sea turtles and clams. The stomach contents of captured tiger sharks have included stingrays, sea snakes, seals, birds, squids, and even license plates and old tires.

Tiger sharks are common in tropical and sub-tropical waters throughout the world. Large specimens can grow to as much as 20 to 25 feet (6 to 7.5 meters) in length and weigh more than 1,900 pounds (900 kilograms).

They are heavily harvested for their fins, skin, and flesh, and their livers contain high levels of vitamin A, which is processed into vitamin oil. They have extremely low repopulation rates, and therefore may be highly susceptible to fishing pressure. They are listed as near threatened throughout their range.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/tiger-shark.html


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## Capt.Eugene (Nov 28, 2008)

I have a friend caught a twenty footer by the Perdido pass farewell buoy I believe him when he says it was as long as his boat Carolina Skiff. 



Anybody For a swim. Not Me:boo


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

saw a 15' hammerhead eat a tarpon off the pier a few years ago... pretty impressive

also saw a big tiger at green's hole... don't know how big she was... every bit of 14'

someone told me one time that Myles colley saw a shark so big at the rigs one time that they hauled off and went to another rig... apperently it was Jaws' lil cousin or something...


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## HaterAide (Nov 9, 2007)

> *John B. (10/14/2009)* a shark so big at the rigs one time that they hauled off and went to another rig... apperently it was Jaws' lil cousin or something...




LOL


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## FishnGator (May 1, 2008)

16 ft Tiger caught on my dad's boat when I was about 7-8 years old. That was quite an awesome sight for me back then, would be now too I'm sure.


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## Hired Hand (Nov 25, 2008)

caught a 13 foot 9 inch hammer head off cable beach in Cuba once. Thats the biggest I have ever landed. hard to tell what is swimming around out there.


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## Shop Keeper (Oct 17, 2009)

While fishing the oil rigs out of Grand Isle La. 16-18 ft. hammerhead. Big, kinda scary even.

He went away, I was glad.


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## reelhappy (Oct 31, 2007)

the day me and my wife where out shopping and the biggest land shark you ever saw tried to eat my wife. she got away and is ok. but i got a picture of the attack.


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## Rich Lacour (Sep 9, 2008)

Shark diving liveaboard trip with Guy Harvey last year. Guy said this bad boy was 16ft. and around 1,200 lbs.










The guy in tis picture is 6'1" 220 lbs.










Same tiger.










Same tiger...about 1 ft. over my head.


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## King Crab (Dec 28, 2008)

While on navarre pier years ago, a hammer head was coming from the west down the bar, When it got to the pier, It waslonger than the end of the pier. It turned around & checked us out for a minute.I threw a large hardtail to it. It swam upside down up to the bait playing with it. I'm guessing 18'. Largest hammer head or shark i've ever seen including Old joe from P'cola beach years ago. It swam away to the east down the bar. We watched itfor maybe 2 miles. The sharkHad no cares in the world. Wont ever forget that 1.:bowdown


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## K-Bill (May 14, 2009)

> *capt.eugene (10/14/2009)*
> 
> 
> > *K-Bill (10/14/2009)*
> ...


not arguing or calling you out whatsoever. i actually checked before i posted because i had no idea they got that big. like i said, that's insane - to see a tiger shark that big - not that you would claim you saw one that big. somethig else insane - those pics in the above post. that close to a tiger? no thank you, sir! awesome pics though.


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## seanspots (Oct 4, 2007)

A 12-13 ft. mako while ling fishing on the beach(not the bar)off of Shell Islanda couple of years ago.Numerous big boy(12-15+) Hammers around Crooked Island.


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## Eastern Tackle (Jul 6, 2009)

Every year the hammerheads gang up on the break off Oregon Inlet, in the Sept time frame I think. If you think seeing a 12' is scary, then you do not want to see this. There will be 2 miles of them, each from 6' to 20' long. I don't know if they are spawning or migrating or what.



I don't get scared on the ocean. Lightning doesn't scare me, big seas don't scare me, but that scene scares the shizane out me every time.


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