Josh from PA Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Two commercial fishermen in Mexico received the surprise of a lifetime Sunday when they hauled up a great white shark measuring nearly 20 feet and weighing about 2,000 pounds, according to local news reports. The rare catch of such a large white shark -- at 20 feet it'd be among the longest ever recorded -- was made in Mexico's Sea of Cortez near Guaymas, by fishermen who thought they had merely scored a large haul of much smaller fish as they hoisted up their net. "We were amazed and immediately realized that we had a huge, dead, great white shark, and then we thought what are we going to do?," Guadalupe, one of the fishermen, said in an interview with Pisces Sportfishing, which is located in the Baja California resort city of Cabo San Lucas. The other fisherman was named Baltazar. The shark was dead when it was brought to the surface. The fishermen, whose skiff measures 22 feet and is powered by a 75-horsepower outboard, required an hour to tow the carcass two miles to the coast. About 50 people helped drag the behemoth onto dry sand. Milenio News reported the length of the fish to be six meters, or 19.8 feet. "Guadalupe and Baltazar swore they had never seen a fish this big before in their lives," the Pisces blog stated. "Even though on March 13 of this year, some of their fellow fishermen had also caught a great white, which had weighed 990 pounds." It remains unclear what the fishermen did with the shark, but scientists were hoping to obtain tissue samples for study. Adult white sharks were once believed to be infrequent visitors to the Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California. But it's now believed that parts of the gulf serve as a nursery for the species. "While it's unusual that fishermen will land sharks that large, the occurrence of large adult white sharks is not uncommon for Gulf waters," said Christopher Lowe, a Southern California white shark expert who has conducted extensive tagging studies involving the species. "In fact, several satellite tagged sharks from California and Guadalupe Island [west of Baja California] have traveled into the gulf. So we know they are there." While in gulf waters, adult white sharks are believed to prey largely on Humboldt squid and sea lions. Love America, or ... why live here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBHarvey Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Someone needs to buy Mexico either an accurate scale or a tape measure, because there isn't a 2,000lb. great white in the world that's anywhere even close to 20 feet long. If the weight is accurate that's a 14 or 15 foot fish - if the length is right then they're off by a few thousand pounds. I've done stuff I ain't proud of, and the stuff I am proud of is disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedJeep Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Hey, it is a conversion thing! The one time I went with a guide out of Cancun, he gave me four pounds per kilogram. That was the only time I got a favorable exchange rate. Peace Frank II --- If anyone needs me, I'll be in my MAN CAVE, rotating the laundry. - C.C.A. - American Littoral Society Tagger w/ 61 returns - Vietnam Veteran U. S. Army, Grand Pa of 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh from PA Posted April 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was wondering the same thing. Usually, big GWs are 3,000-4,000 pounds. Wonder how old it was Love America, or ... why live here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyr Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was thinking the same thing, just look at Mundus' GW. 24ft or so, and 3300 lbs. The GW that Northeast Taxidermy was using for the shows was around(correct me if I'm wrong) 1500lbs, and it was around 14ft. It's the first dieting GW!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBHarvey Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I was thinking the same thing, just look at Mundus' GW. 24ft or so, and 3300 lbs. It's even worse - the Mundus/Braddick fish was only 17 feet long and almost 3,500lbs. Lying mexican fishermen I've done stuff I ain't proud of, and the stuff I am proud of is disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOH Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Either way - big damned fish.... It's not a ****ing woodpecker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSurfcaster78 Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 White sharks are so cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triumph19 Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 What a fracking shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinfanatic Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 What a fracking shame. yup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyr Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Thanks for clarifying EB. Triumph,I totally agree, what a shame.... a big breeder killed like that, horrible....with more of them, maybe we could start fishing for GW's again. I'd love to get spooled on a 130. Just kidding, it's a bad way to lose such a great fish... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimS Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Yup, the picture looks like a MUCH larger fish than 2,000 pounds If it really was 20ft long, it's probably closer to 5,000 pounds Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere. Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucktail Pete Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Aren't GW's on the endangered species list making it illegal to have in your possesion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t58martin Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 I would tend to believe that the length estimate is close because it's fairly easy to get a tape measure. Getting that critter to a scale from a remote Mexican beach would be quite another. The weight was probably a wild arse guess. 'Hey Pedro, how much do you think this shark weighs?, I dunno, must be thousands of pounds" Shark men had one or two of their NatGeo shows shot in the sea of Cortez looking for evidence of a GW nursery there. I'll see if they are still available On Demand. i wonder if it was a big prego female, or just let loose a baby into Cortez. These guys weren't targeting the GW, it's just a shame really. Regards,TMAR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brushfly Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Now this is a long shot but if we say that kid in the photo is 3'6", we can almost assume the girth on that GW is at least 9'? Length of GW is 20'. Now if you use LXGXG divided by 800, a pretty tried and true formula for this body type of fish is comes in at 3,499 lbs. My point is 2000lbs is way off as others have said, might even be double that? I don't think a 9' girth is out of the question, it could be more. On a related note, did anybody catch Trev Gowdy's MONSTER FISH episode where they were tagging GW's off Monomoy on the Ezyduzit? Pretty cool to see them in that close as long as I'm not in the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to register here in order to participate.
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now