Releasing a 14-foot shark

Screen Grab Photo courtesy of Viktor Hluben

Regular readers to our magazine and blog may recall our February issue of California Sportsman, when Southern California “sharker” Jeff Fangman told his extraordinary tale of an incidental hook  and release of a great white shark.

Some insane brave anglers in an undisclosed location off the Florida coast also had the rush of unintentionally landing a giant predator: in this case what was estimated as a 14-foot hammerhead shark, which isn’t described as a maneater, though sharks of this size should probably never be taken lightly.

Watch the video of this encounter and ask yourself if you’d be as brazen as these guys hooting and hollering while this giant, unpredictable and sharp teeth-filled beast was, I have to think, getting more and more impatient while these seemingly tasty strangers were posing for photos, shooting video and then without much hesitation sliding it into deep enough water for a quick release.

Bravo for their quick work to get the fascinating fish back in the water relatively quickly. But given how close the lucky angler, Viktor Hluben, and friends were within chomping distance of that shark’s mouth. Somewhere around Oceanside, Jeff Fangman is sending a thumb’s up your way, folks!