Texas Angler Catches 11-foot Hammerhead Shark With Fish Hooks In Its Mouth After Struggling For More Than 40 Minutes

A Texas angler reeled in an 11-foot hammerhead shark with several hooks in its mouth after struggling with it for more than 45 minutes on Sunday, September 5.

Angler Jen Merchant, a fishing guide on North Padre Island, spent her Labor Day surf fishing for sharks alongside her husband, Tim, and friend Dustin Hickey. She told the story of her shark catch and release in a YouTube video titled “My PB Hammerhead.”

The clip reveals how she battled a “dinosaur fish” from the top of a silver truck on the Texas Coast in a bid to haul the shark. The battle lasted for about 45 minutes before she was able to reel in the giant fish, mysanantonio reported. She described the fight as a “really good fight”.

In her Facebook post, she wrote that the fish was an 11/12-foot great hammerhead and also it was her “personal best shark” catch.

She actually isn’t the first angler to hook the fish judging from several hooks found in the shark.

“We got the fish in and we notice that it had been hooked several times by other people and I guess it got away”, she said in the video.

“It still had big drops hanging out of his mouth and we are actually pulling other hooks out of this fish’s mouth”.

The clip shows Merchant and her crew battling with the hooks in the fish mouth.

“In the corner you can see where the old drop had actually injured him and was rubbing his jaw wrong”, she said.

“I bet the fish was totally relieved that we were able to get this hook out and that he was able to swim away without that being there to hinder him anymore.”

The crew tagged the shark, got a DNA sample and took shots for the Texas Shark Rodeo after freeing it from the hooks.

Merchant released the “beast” but not before pulling its mouth open for what she called her “money shot” photo.

After the shots, two men dragged the shark out to the sea, “back to deep water,”  and then turned it around and the shark “swam away good”.

“My favorite part about catching a fish like this is letting it go, Merchant said. “That release- it’s amazing.”

Provision for “Catch and Release Technique for sharks” has been made available for anglers like Merchants, by Texas Parks and Wildlife on their website. The guide includes shark safety advice, including removing the hook “as soon as possible following landing of the shark” and minimizing time the shark is out of water.

“Proper handling increases the chance that a shark will survive the release,” the wildlife department says.

“The internal organs of many species of sharks are loosely held in place by connective tissue. In water, these organs are supported, but if the shark is lifted by the tail, the tissue may tear, causing damage to the organs.”

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, Great hammerheads are mostly found in Texas gulf waters.

“Great hammerheads are large, even by shark standards, growing to more than 15 feet long,” the department says. “Large as they are, these sharks can turn quickly with the help of their broad, flat heads.”