Homer Alaska - News

But for Josh Brooks, captain of the Huntress, the story is about the one he caught.

Five Foot Fotos Captain Josh Brooks of the Huntress with his 400lb, 7'4" salmon shark caught Sunday afternoon.

After years of losing salmon gear to a massive salmon shark, Brooks decided that he had had enough and put his plan into action.

At about 3:45 p.m. Sunday with glassy water and sunny skies on Kachemak Bay, Brooks landed the shark.

"She took a $15 flasher from me on the 30th and I said that was it. We cut the head off of a salmon that was on board and put it on a hook on a downrigger and it couldn't have been more than ten minutes before the shark was on it," said Brooks.

Brooks said it took him and all of his crew to hoist the 400-pound, 7-foot, 4-inch shark on board.

"We have to set the gear down really close and then there was just this explosion and when it goes on a run like that you know you've got a big shark on," said Brooks.

It took a 10-minute fight and about 20 feet of cable leader reeled in hand over hand by the crew to bring the shark in. The crew eventually shot the shark and hauled it up with four gaffes.

"From that point I didn't want to waste the fish so we brought it in last night (Sunday) and craned it into a pickup truck where Fish and Game came down and had a look at it. I brought it to my house and I butchered it and we're actually going to go through the meat and eat it," said Brooks.

Brooks noted the salmon shark had several cuts on its fins and tail, but could not say whether those had come from prior entanglements with fishing gear.

"I've been trying to catch the shark for a couple of years and everything came together yesterday. So it's kind of a bittersweet story because now that it's gone it's gone," he said Monday.

Brooks said that if he did catch another shark he would more than likely release it back into the bay.

While salmon sharks are highly migratory, the Gulf of Alaska is populated year round. Salmon sharks can grow as long as 12 feet, weigh as much as 700 pounds and are believed to live for up to 25 years and typically feed on salmon and herring.