"Jaws" may have met his match in a possible real-life counterpart. Could it be that the world's largest Mako shark to have ever been caught on record was reeled in off the coast of Huntington Beach, Calif.?
Once the official weight and measurements are registered by the proper arbiters, the shark -- caught during the filming of an episode of the Outdoor Channel's The Professionals on Monday, June 3 -- could very well end up being such a record holder.
According to a news report by CBS Los Angeles, the Mako shark is 1,323.5 pounds and measures in at 11 feet long with a girth of 8 feet. It was caught by Mesquite, Texas' Jason Johnston who said it took more than two hours to best the beast.
"He took out a quarter-mile of line . . . and five times he came out of the water over 20 feet," Johnston said about the shark that was caught while he the filming took place of his charter fishing trip that was facilitated by Huntington Beach-based Mako Matt's and Breakaway Charters. "It was amazing."
Chum and cut bait was used to lure the shark, which was said by Johnston to be "unreal. This thing is definitely a killing machine. Any wrong step, I could have gone out of the boat and down to the bottom of the ocean."
The Mako shark or Isurus is part of the Lamnidae family, which also includes such beasts as the renown great white shark. Mako sharks are said to be capable of reaching heights of up to 24 feet in the air and can weigh as much as 1,750 pounds, with a measurement range of between 9 and 15 feet in length.
"It was pretty wild. This one came up wanting to kill every single thing in its sight. It was bite, bite, bite, every direction," Johnston's colleague Corey Knowlton said.
As relayed by KTLA, the monster mako shark will be taken to a measuring facility in Gardena where it will in fact be certified by a "weigh master."
Whereas the body of the monster shark will be donated to research, Johnston and his crew is already set on their next charter fishing trip as of Tuesday, June 4.
Do you have any stories of seeing or catching particularly big fish or even sharks? Let us know in the comments below!
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