Another Bow-Caught Record Mako Shark

Patrick Eger's 544-pound mako shark was a world record caught with a bow until a far larger mako was landed off Orange County. (BIG E. OUTDOORS)
Patrick Eger’s 544-pound mako shark was a world record caught with a bow until a far larger mako was landed off Orange County. (BIG E. OUTDOORS)

 

In September’s California Sportsman, we featured Wisconsin-based outdoors TV host Patrick Eger’s 544-pound, 8-ounce mako shark he caught with a bow off the Catalina Island coast. That weight was considered world record, but it didn’t last long.

Texan Jeff Thomason, who like Eger also hosts an outdoors television show, was fishing off Huntington Beach when his bow landed a far more massive mako, which weighed in at just over 809 pounds.

From the San Antonio Express-News:

Thomason, of Weatherford, hosts the cable television show “Predator Pursuit,” which airs on the Sportsman Channel. Thomason said the world-record catch took a total of five people 30 minutes to haul in. …

They’ve got to be about three feet from the boat to get the arrow to stick, so we threw a fish on a line and teased him to the boat,” Thomason told Lone Star Outdoor News. “I try and shoot for the top of the back. As soon as the arrow hit, all hell broke loose. We freaked out because I spined him and we thought he might sink.”

The crew raced back to shore after securing the fish and had it measured at a certified weigh station in Los Angeles.

“It was one of those days when everything went right,” Thomason said.

Here’s our report on Eger’s catch.

Large sharks are common swimming off California’s coast. But it’s still eye-popping news when another one emerges, especially one that established a world record caught by a bow.

Wisconsin-based TV hunting host Patrick Eger of Big E TV (855-424-4388; bigetv.com) was filming off Catalina Island in Southern California. He was aboard with Capt. Mark Potter of Breakaway Sportfishing (714-893-7743; breakawayfishingcharters.com) in Huntington Beach. Potter saw a large mako shark off the stern.

“As the massive shark made its way through the chum and sized up the boat on several passes, the crew and Eger determined that it was large enough to harvest and should claim the record they were looking for,” said a Big E TV press release.  “On several passes the killer shark rammed the boat and made it known that it had no fear of the crew or anyone onboard.”

Eger proceeded to unleash an arrow from his Xpedition Archery XCentric bow, tipped with an Innerloc broadhead arrow on 200-pound test line. The shot hooked the fish, and a two-hour fight between man and shark ensued. After a series of majestic jumps, the mako was finally reeled in and tipped the scales at 544 pounds, 8 ounces.

The Bowfishing Association of America documented the shark, which measured 10 ½ feet long, as both the California state record and bowfishing world record.

There are bigger ones out there, and there are more than you care to know. This record won’t stand forever, and I am counting on that,” Eger said. “That is what this is all about”.  “I look forward to having another hunter break my record, but the key is you have to get these things documented and register them into the books.”