Massive bull shark caught in south Alabama

BON SECOUR, Ala. (WKRG) — If a picture is worth a thousand words, “the girth of this thing was ginormous,” that might be a good start for what Capt. David Stiller with Apex Shark Fishing Charters caught on a recent fishing trip.

“We were fishing straight off of Mobile Bay, right off Dixey Bar, 3.5 miles out,” Stiller recalled.

As the only federally permitted commercial shark fishing operation in Alabama, Stiller and the crew catch sharks for a living. But on this particular trip, there was something unusual.

“We had our long-line gear out, and were hauling our gear in, and were getting pieces and pieces of sharks. Head after head was all that was left on the hooks,” Stiller said.

That told him something bigger was in the water, so they hooked up some bait and set a buoy out to see what would happen.

An hour or so later, “We looked at our plotter, and this thing is moving, and we’re saying, ‘Uh-oh.’ It wasn’t moving as fast as a tiger shark, but I knew it was pretty big, moving a 12-pound chunk of lead around.”

Once they caught up to the buoy, there was a 20-minute fight, and it took everything they could do to get it on the boat.

“Between the hydraulics and the three of us, we were finally able to squeeze it, pull the fins in get it through the door,” Stiller said.

Finally, the 560-pound bull shark was onboard.

“It was really cool to see something that big,” Stiller said. “It’s not an everyday occurrence that we even run across.”

The shark will help in research at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab, studying the age and growth of bull sharks. The catch, while impressive, will not break the state record of 494 pounds because it was caught on commercial fishing gear. Still, Dave and the crew are kind of famous.

“We’re offshore and get back to the dock, and everybody knows about it, pretty cool,” Stiller said.