Joe Gonzales is a longtime shark fisherman with many big ones to his credit, including a nearly 12-foot tiger shark. The morning of August 1, Joe and friends Eli Mata, Alan Barron, Jose Caballero and his finance’ Scarlett Alcover headed to the Texas Coast on South Padre Island.
“I’d fished that spot before and caught some big tiger sharks there,” Gonzales, age 35, tells Wired2fish. “We ran a jet ski out from the beach and deposited shark baits about 300 yards offshore.
“Then we waited.”
The anglers had five heavy-duty, specialized beach shark rods set up and baited. They used 80-wide conventional reels with 150-pound test braided lines. To the braid lines were tied 30-foot lengths of 1,000-pound test monofilament leaders that were fitted to 4-foot lengths of 800-pound test cable leaders.
The cable leader ends were secured to 24/0 circle hooks, having no barbs for easy releasing of sharks caught.
“About 7:30 p.m. a shark took a 15-pound stingray bait, and one reel started to scream,” said Gonzales, a Texas detention officer living in the nearby town of Los Fresnos. “I let the fish run a bit, set the hook, then the fight started.”
By the way the fish fought Gonzales knew it was a huge shark. He didn’t know how big, or what kind of shark, until he saw a huge dorsal fin cut the water’s surface near the end of the battle.
“When I saw that dorsal I knew it was a massive hammerhead,” he said. “I got the shark beat, and in the surf, about 8:30, right at dusk. Then our team handled it safely so we could get the big barbless hook out of its mouth.”
The anglers measured the hammerhead’s length, making photos and videos of their catch as their shark battle at South Padre Island ended.
Gonzales’ shark measured 14-feet, 5-inches in length. They estimated the fish was about 1,000-pounds, and they believe it was three decades old. Then they placed a numbered tag in the shark near its dorsal fin, and walked the fish slowly back through the surf, where it swam off strongly into the Gulf.
“We tag sharks and send information of the fish and its number over to state researchers,” Gonzales explained. “They keep a data base and if the fish is ever caught again the angler can turn in the number and the researchers get valuable shark information.”
Gonzales’ massive hammerhead shark is just 1/4 inch short of the Texas record hammerhead. That fish was caught in a tournament by Tim McClellan in July 2017, measuring 14 feet, 5.25 inches long and weighing 1,033 pounds.
“Any hammerhead over 14 feet is a giant of a fish,” he said. “I’m just glad to have caught it, and we were able to release the fish alive and perhaps caught again someday.”
