Photos: Massive Bull Shark Snagged Off Pinellas County Waters

When Capt. Anthony Belmonte headed out into the waters off Pinellas County earlier this week, he probably didn’t expect to reel in a catch of a lifetime.

That, however, is what happened.

It was early Monday afternoon when Belmonte and his Canadian clients on board the HUB got a big bite. Around 3 p.m., they pulled up a giant bull shark.

“It took almost two full hours to reel in,” Dylan Hubbard told Patch. “Eckerd College biologists measured it at 125.5 inches total length and 65.6 wide in inches, so over 10.4 feet long and over 5 feet wide.”

The HUB is one of Madeira Beach-based Hubbard Marina’s charter boats. Dylan Hubbard is the company’s vice president.

While the catch was impressive, the folks at Hubbard’s aren’t necessarily thrilled with the outcome. Hubbard said his clients, who have declined having their identities revealed, opted to kill the shark rather than send it back into the waters.

See Also:

• Shark Attacks 10-Year-Old At Daytona Beach Shores
• Watch: Sharks Force Beach Closings
• Shark Attacks: What Are The Odds?
• Boy Airlifted After Shark Attack at Cocoa Beach

“Hubbard’s Marina has been fishing local waters since 1928 as a family owned and operated company,” Hubbard said. “We do everything we can to teach our guests how to fish and more about our fishery. On all our trips we only keep what guests plan to eat. We have been fishing for five generations and would never purposefully endanger our local ecosystem by killing apex predators in a wasteful manner.”

The shark, Hubbard said, was not killed because it was dangerous.

“It was wild and we tried everything to talk our guest out of keeping it but unfortunately we lost the battle and had to take him home,” he said. “We do all we can to resist our clients from insisting on killing sharks, billfish and other restricted species for sport but if they pay for a private charter the client is always right if it’s legal and in season.”

In this case, the catch was legal, he said.

“Our company policy on sharks is that the guest must be taking the meat home for consumption if we plan to kill a shark,” Hubbard said. “Once we get back, the guest takes as much meat as he wants, the jaws and whatever else he’d like. Then the remaining meat is given to one of our employees who has a local homeless ministry and outreach. Then we donate carcasses to science to be studied to help further the fishery.”

Bull sharks are commonly found in the waters around Florida, according to the University of Florida. Males average about 7.3 feet and weigh in around 209 pounds. “The maximum reported length of the bull shark is 11.5 feet, weighing over 500 pounds,” the university’s Florida Museum of Natural History reports.

For more information about bull sharks, visit the university online. To find out more about Hubbard’s Marina, visit it online or on Facebook.

Photos courtesy of Hubbard’s Marina