850 lb Mako! The Reel McCoy Capt. George McElveen!
Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 04:01PM
Wow! Check out these photos of an 850 lb mako caught abord The Reel McCoy. Capt. George McElveen had quite a surpise! This sucker was so big we had to pull it out with the forklift! Inside they found part of a tarpon estimated at 75 lbs! Great Islamorada fishing charter experience! This baby took almost 3 hours to drag in fighting, and another 3 hours to tow back to the marina! They had to use the forklift to pull this thing out of the water and weigh it, and it was still alive! The anglers party was made up of Joe Rebman, Obaid Mohammad, Don Sarnoksky, and Eric Oakes, out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL! This fish was killed because it was a possible state record, and all the meat was given away and used! This is also an individual charter fishing vessel out of Bud N' Mary's; The Reel McCoy is a seperate business entirely from us. Bud N' Mary's is an advocate of catch & release practices for many species, however the captain and crew had caught a possible state record and decided to bring it in and kill it, which we have no opinion towards. Again, the shark was cut up and meat was given away, not wasted.
FOR CHARTERING INFO ON THE REEL MCCOY AND OTHER BOATS AT BUD N' MARY'S: 800-742-7945 or 305-664-2461
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Bud N' Mary's Marina
Bud N' Mary's Marina
Some aerial acrobatics from this 850 lb mako!!! Amazing!
Reader Comments (31)
Now that it's dead what will you do with this creature?
They cut the shark up and gave the meat away, mostly to everyone witnessing the catch and the local captains/mates.
shit that thing is huge i wouldnt want that thing any where near my boat
Excellent catch! Even though some are jealous.
Don't listen to the haters. Awesome catch! Once in a lifetime! "insert bad, overused cliche here"....
I certainly appreciate the great catch. The problem is if everyone uses the "state record" rational and harvests the big ones, there just aint gonna be big ones. Also have to question the meat quality of an 850 lb Mako. Let em go man!
Way to go, guys!
Kiki, looking good, man !
SWEETNESS!!!
All those hater get a life... just cause you didn't catch it!!! You must hate lumber jacks too.....
Way to get on the meat cappie....
Great catch - but why slaughter a breeder for any reason? Mother Nature will ultimately impose her justice!
Nice shark and great "on the water" pictures. What is wrong with taking pictures from the boat and releasing the beast?
I find it interesting that regulations say we can't keep a snapper that is a tad under regulation size but can have our way with giant rare breeder sharks. Fact is, there are exponentially more small snapper then there are lone predators of this magnitude. The reason a catch like this is so exciting is because it is so rare. Why is it so rare? Because there are not many of these creatures to start with. Mother Nature produces very few top predators in relation to their prey as is regardless of human impact. These predators are key to the overall health and stability of their ecosystems. Think for a moment about lions and gazelles that you are used to seeing on the discovery channel. Notices how there are many more gazelle then there are lions? The overall numbers of gazelle to lions is drastically different. This is the same as sharks and smaller prey fish. We only enjoy catching large sharks because it is so rare and thus makes us (as fishermen) unique for catching them. If we caught them at the same rate and quantities as we do small snapper we would consider them more of a nuisance (and probably not want to swim in the oceans as much).
We as fishermen are guardians of our waterways and regardless of what the regulations say we need to be smart and sustainable. The reality is simply that most of these large sharks are rare and females. Most females do not have offspring until they are very large and of significantly old age. A shark beat all odds to get to this size and age. Even if the shark is a record, what is achieved by obtaining the record? If records are important is there another way we can verify without killing such rare and important predators?
Not to long ago a very large female hammerhead was caught in the Boca Grand area and was slaughter for a similar purpose. She was filled with many juveniles that were ultimately destroyed.
real nice. Where can I get some of those steaks
great pictures too
If you don't don't kill alot of sharks every year i don't see anything wrong with taking a once in a lifetime fish like this. Yes it would be great if it was let go but at the moment of the fish of that size being next to the boat i would have no second thoughts about taking it. You might never get another shot at a true trophy such as this one and if you did be fortunate enough to hook another monster like this in the future then the right thing to do would be let it go after pictures are taking but this is one hell of a catch and you cannot take this moment away from the crew for such a great catch besides all the meat was used and not wasted.
as long as it's legal(which this extaordinary catch is) Your fish,your call. Nice work
THERE ARE WAY TO MANY CRITICS OUT HERE ABOUT HARVESTING A FISH IF ITS LEGAL SHUT YOUR MOUTH EVERYBODY DOESNT HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU TREE HUGGERS.I DO PRACTICE CATCH AND RELEASE ALSO BUT IF YOU CATCH A SHARK OF THIS MAGNITUDE BY ALL MEANS BRING IT IN AND PUT IT ON THE SCALE.NOTHING WAS WASTED AND CONSERVATION IS TO CONSERVE AND HARVEST BIG SHARKS LIKE THIS EVERY NOW AND THEN SO THERE IS NOT AN OVER POPULATION OF THEM,AND THERE ALL NOT CONGREGATING IN THE SAME AREA FOR FOOD.JUST LIKE DEER HUNTING.SOME AREAS ARE OVER INFESTED WITH DEER AND YOU HAVE DEPLETE THE POULATION SO THEY ALL ARE NOT FENDING FOR THE SAME FOOD AND END UP STARVING TO DEATH.I AM NOT SAYING THAT THATS THE EXACT CASE HERE WITH MAKOS BUT BY NO MEANS ARE THEY ENDANGERD SO ALL YOU CRITICS THAT ARE AGAINST IT QUIT HATING CAUSE IT WASNT YOUR ASS THAT CAUGHT THAT SHARK...........................
I think SPEFISH 71 said it all, Awesome, And any other boat would have done the same. Im all for foundations and I belong to A bunch every year,dose your boss or U? kiss my ass great catch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To the very intelligent person who posted HATER and TREEHUGGER.....wouldnt you like to catch some Bluefin Tuna off Florida or the Keys? Well you cant thx to the same very intelligent attitude. If youd like your kids to be able to enjoy fishing, then how about releasing the big ones?
That fish should have been released, bad form by the charter Capt. They pulled that fish to the dock purely for publicity, well now he's getting it. Mako's are no different than sails or marlins, the large fish make up the breeding population, take some pictures and then release it. You still would have made the news.
pretty work on a huge fish. I wouldn't bother using the "it might have been a record" line, the florida state record is over 1000#. why not just say the truth, they are very tasty fish and you wanted to whack it? Mako's are one of the best eating fish out there, and the big ones taste just as good or better than the small ones. The people who use the line "big fish don't taste" as good, just don't know how to catch big fish.
and if your going to complain about declining shark stocks, how about you go bother the japanese, they kill more sharks in one day with their long line shark "finning" boats than all the rec/ charter boat fisherman kill in a year.
the only way to damage a population of fish is through commercial harvesting.
Man would someone give all these cry babies a kleenex or kotex--That is an absolute once in a lifetime catch--and for anyone to keep that fish on past all the jumps and then boat that beast knows what the hell they are doing and deserves to do what they wish with it--It isn't against the law and I would have done the exact same if I were in their shoes---Tell all these haters to go join PETA and quit commenting on such a GREAT achievement--Way to go Cappy and Krew!
All of you are gilligans!! KIll every last one of them! WE spend lots of money and most importantly time trying to find these elusive fish and some treehugging GReenPeace members wants to speak his mind.. Great job and I am sure it will be an experience you will never forget
how much commerical fishing was done for Bluefin Tuna near the Bahamas? ZIP!!!!! Woudlnt you love to go fishing for Bluefin this summer off Miami/Bahamas? Too bad there arent many at all. Think about that.
Awesome Catch.
You should read the Whale Warrier and see the Indi Film Sharkwater.
Long as I fish the waters, I would much rather be part of the solution than the problem.
What a terrific catch! The picture of it jumping out of the water is fabulous and should be put on your teeshirts. Weighing the Mako with men standing nearby shows how huge the thing was! Glad all could enjoy the feast afterwards.
We were out fishing with these guys in March. They are very concious about being ethical. We caught 2 sails that day and were caught and released, leaving no stress on the fish. We also caught some dolphin, yellow tail tuna and a huge African Pompano. If you were deer hunting and a huge buck walks by are you going to let it go in hopes that something "smaller" will come along? I bet you'd shoot it. You couldn't pass it up. I applaud these guys. That was a major catch and to bring it all the way in, is an extraordinary once in a life time catch. Also, if you people would keep up with the current fishing magazines you will find that Captain George has been featured in several fishing magazines advocating catch and release and how to handle them, so that they survive. His mates are fantastic, too. If you would also check out recent fishing reports down there you would know that George McElveen has had an awesome couple of weeks fishing. Keep doing a great job you guys!!!!!!!!
Fantastic catch,
To all the people posting about catch and release. To end the arguement, recreational fishing only takes about 35% of all the annual fish harvested in the ocean each year. So regardless of what we catch and keep, it won't make a lick of differnce since if we stop, commercial fishing will pick up the slack and just end up harvesting most of what we toss back.
Want to regulate fishing, try cutting back on commercial fishing and leave us weekend warriors, and fun loving anglers alone, but then again, you all want your filet of fish sandwiches and chilean sea bass served at weddings. Want to act locally, stop buying fish and try catching them yourself, and lower the demand for commercial catches...
Stupid arguement anyway...