A man fishing in Texas reeled in a shark on Saturday he described as one he "only dreamed about." (South Texas Fishing Association)
A fisherman in Texas hooked a massive hammerhead shark on Saturday, describing the catch as one he "only dreamed about" and the "shark catch of multiple lifetimes."
Poco Cedillo posted on the South Texas Fishing Association Facebook page that he was on the Padre Island National Seashore when he made the big catch.
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Poco Cedillo said he noticed the shark was sick, and "very tired" when a group of people tried to release it back into the Gulf of Mexico. (South Texas Fishing Association)
Cedillo said that it took more than an hour to reel in the shark, which was "that big." He then noticed the massive shark was "very tired" and quickly got a length measurement before trying to set it free back into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The shark was 14 feet long, with a fork length of 135 inches and a girth of 78 inches, according to Cedillo.
The hammerhead shark was 14 feet long. (South Texas Fishing Association)
He later realized the shark was in poor health, which "sucked the excitement right out of us for a while."
"Our main focus was to get her released quickly," he wrote. "Well after 30-40 min of us holding her up into the current in 3-4 [feet] of water we were faced with accepting the fact that she was done."
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After the group with Cedillo realized the shark could not be saved, they worked to save the shark meat so it could eventually be donated.
"People that know me know that I release every single shark I catch so this hurts," Cedillo said. "Catching this fish of a lifetime and it not making it totally sucks for me but it happens especially since we tried hard."