Although Shark Week ended a couple of weeks ago, an angler from the South Texas had something to show closer to home.
Joe Gonzales caught a 14.5-foot long hammerhead on the north side of South Padre Island this past weekend on Aug. 1, and it has been the talk of the local fishing community ever since.
The catch also happened a little more than a year after a shark bit several people along the beaches of SPI.
Gonzales said he went fishing that day and, after having issues with this 4×4 truck, he was able to drop a line out from a jet ski. It took about 40 minutes until the line took off, peeling away from the reel.
Gonzales said he knew it was a big fish after he saw a huge dorsal fin out of the water but never considered it would be a 14-foot-plus hammerhead.
“I caught another hammerhead last year – an eight-footer,” he said in an interview with Lone Star Outdoor News on Tuesday. “Nothing like this one.”
Gonzales said he hooked the fish about 8 p.m. last Friday, some 10 miles north of Beach Access 6.
“I used a stingray for bait, weighing about 10 pounds,” he said. “It took about an hour to bring it over from the sandbars and to the beach.”
The shark was brought over to the sand and it was set free after he and others measured the fish and took some pictures.
“It was awesome,” he said. “But the best thing was to let it go free.”
Sarah Stewart, the new county extension marine agent in Cameron County, said it was unusual to have such a large fish so close to beach right now.
