CNN posted a 45 second video of a 819 lb Mako caught in California on its website this morning. The video shows the shark upon arrival at Marina Del Rey (just north of the LAX airport in Los Angeles).

You can see the video HERE. It appears to play best in Internet Explorer.

As reported in the South African press, a lifeguard participating in a near-shore training exercise was attacked within 200 meters of the beach. The attack occured in calm seas, clear water, and at 11:00 local time. Fortunately, he was pulled into the boat quickly and the other lifeguards administered timely 1st aid as they got him to shore and the hospital. From the article:

Once Taariq had been hauled into the boat it headed for Achmat, but he disappeared beneath the water. Seeing a dark patch, Taariq reached in to grab his brother, not knowing if the shark would bite him.

Achmat was pulled into the boat, his leg “dripping with blood” but instead of swimming away, “the shark actually turned around and came for us again,” said Taariq.

“It actually knocked the boat quite hard, but there were five of us in the boat so it couldn’t knock it over.”

As reported in at Saltwatersportsman.com a likely world record hammerhead was near Boca Grande, Florida about 12 miles offshore. Weighing in at 1280lbs and a whopping 14 1/2 feet long this was quite a fish. It’s unfortunate that we still haven’t found a way to catch and release potential record breakers.

Update as of 1 Jul 06 - according to CNN, it turns out the fish was pregnant and nearly full term with 56 “pups” greatly adding to the weight.

Found a great article on a recent Mako tournament at Marinernetwork.net. They hooked up a large Tiger shark during the 3-day event, and quite a few smaller fish.

An excerpt:”Unfortuantely for us (yet fortunate for the shark), the OC Shark Tournament is organized as a conservation tournament and Tiger sharks are off limits for weigh in. We were now fishing for release points. After having the bimini twist enter and subsequently exit the roller guides 30 or 40 times more times, we got the feeling we may have been fishing with light tackle and we definately “needed a bigger boat”. We finally got our release and our picture (with the angler, the boat number arm band, and the shark all in one frame - don’t asked me how we accomplished it). The fight took 2 hrs and 41 min and we estimated the fish at 15ft long and 800+lbs. “

The Northwest Florida Daily News reported the catch of a 9′ bull shark about 2 miles offshore from Destin yesterday.  They don’t seem to have the article online and I’ve yet to find a good a secondary source for more information.  Please send us a line via the comments if you have additional information!

We’ve posted video from Austin’s 6′ bull shark he caught last fall in 3′ of water.  Also pictures of Sarah’s 7′ bull caught near Destin from our 20′ Chaparral.

See it HERE

Wouldn’t mind catching one of these ourselves this year. This large hammerhead weighed in at 750 lbs. Suprising that this shark is significantly heavier than the previous record - which dates back to 1976.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=

/20060512/ENT20/60512011/1075