After fighting with all his might for over an hour at the Padre Island National Seashore, a South Texas fisherman reeled in what he describes as the catch of “multiple lifetimes”; a Greater Hammerhead shark.
When he hooked into the 14-foot shark he knew he was in for the fight of his life.
Poco Cedillo of Robstown, TX is no rookie when it comes to fishing. In fact, the Texan has been fishing the sea for over 20 years.
So when he realized what was on the other end of his line, he sprung into action to get measurements and pictures of the awesome experience before trying to release it.
“While leadering it we noticed she was very tired so we quickly took pics, got a length measurement, took the hook out and did all we could to get her released.”
Cedillo, a member of the South Texas Fishing Association, details the story of this incredibly rare catch in a Facebook post.
As he and his fishing mates were working to get measurements, they noticed that the shark was rapidly becoming exhausted.
Cedillo and his friends worked quickly for the shark’s release, momentarily foregoing many measurements that would normally be taken, such as fork length and girth.
“At the time we didn’t bother getting a girth, fork length or even tried tagging her. Our main focus was to get her released quickly.”
They had the Hammerhead in what Cedillo describes as “plenty deep water” for the roughly 5 minutes it took to get a length measurement and photo, but it just wasn’t enough.
After holding the Hammerhead in the current for close to 40 minutes, Cedillo and his crew began to realize they were fighting a losing battle.
“Well after 30-40 min of us holding her up into the current in 3-4’ of water we were faced with accepting the fact that she was done. We were so tired, shark rashed and disappointed that it sucked the excitement right out of us for a while.”
While the fisherman had made the catch of his life, he also lost the more important battle of keeping it alive.
The loss of the massive endangered species really stung for Cedillo, who normally practices catch-and-release fishing.
In his post to readers, he said that his inability to revive the shark struck at his core, as he always releases the sharks he catches.
“Now for most of us that live for land based shark fishing this was something that we never wanted to go through….People that know me know that I release every single shark I catch so this hurts.”
Although he couldn’t save the shark, Cedillo knew there was still something he could do to turn the situation around.
After the Hammerhead had clearly died, the men pulled her to shore to get to work saving every last cut of meat.
“since we couldn’t get her released we were going to do everything we could to save the meat….5-6 of us went to work and I’m happy to say that all meat was saved.”
Once on shore, the group finished taking some pretty astounding measurements and got down to cutting up the meat.
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While the sports fisherman has caught a lot of flack in the comments from other Facebook users, he isn’t apologizing for his love of the sport, only the fact that he was unable to revive the shark.
“I owe nobody an apology for this but I felt I needed to let everyone know exactly what happen…For all the sharkers, friends and people that have reached out congratulating me, trying to make me feel better etc, thank you. For the ones out there moving their ignorant mouths, fish on amigos!! “
After salvaging the meat from the massive Hammerhead, Cedillo donated that meet to the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission, a Corpus Christi homeless shelter that houses over 200 people.
While it is tragic the endangered shark died, it wasn’t in vain as it went to feed many who can’t afford to feed themselves, truly making this catch one of a lifetime!
