‘Never in my wildest dreams’: A night of shark fishing that no one will forget

For anglers like Adam Lopez, Shark Week on Discovery Channel has a special place in his memory.

Lopez, who loves to target big sharks along Florida beaches, fell in love with the species at a young age and always enjoys learning more about the various types of sharks he encounters.

“I caught my first shark when I was six or seven years old,” Lopez explained. “It almost pulled me off the pier. Ever since then I’ve been hooked on shark fishing from piers and the beach.”

Lopez, now 31, travels around the state of Florida in search of the thrill of tug of war with big sharks on heavy tackle. Depending on the time of year, different species of sharks are able to be targeted.

“The way I describe it to people is redneck marlin fishing. It’s all about the right gear if you want to get big sharks,” he said. “We use 200-pound braid, 130 class reels on stand up rods with 1200-pound cable wire leaders and 28/0 circle hooks.”

At the beginning of 2022, Lopez, a Marine veteran, joined his military friends in the Panhandle of Florida where their goal was to catch big sharks along Pensacola’s Gulf of Mexico beaches. Pensacola is unique where it has deep water within a mile of the beach, giving big sharks the opportunity to come closer to shore.

On a cold night, the group set up before sunset for a night none would forget.

“We set up with big baits, I like stingrays and other sharks like black tips or bulls. I kayak them out 200- to 600-yards off the beach. We like to target the big sharks in colder water months because in the summer the lactic acid builds up easier and can kill them after a long fight,” Lopez described.

“Right before dusk, Brandon Adams, a navy veteran, hooked the first shark of the night,” Lopez recounted. “One of my buddies joked he saw a mako jump while the fight started. It ran about 300-yards of drag out but after that came in fairly early. When it got close to the beach we could see what it was, and his joking came true when we saw a blue dorsal fin as it was a mako!”

The mako, while noted for its delicious table fare, was revived and released by the group. A bit of an enigma to Gulf anglers, makos are seen on occasion but catching them is extremely difficult. Catching it from a beach is once in a lifetime even for many shark anglers.

“Shortly after the release little did we know we were about to be blessed with another unicorn,” said Lopez. “We hooked another big shark and this one ran off 600- to 700-yards of 80-pound drag. We could tell it was jumping and spinning with how the line was acting but it was dark by then so we couldn’t see it.”

After 45-minutes of heavy tug of war the king of sharks and the Shark Week focus was in sight.

“To all our surprises, I had landed a juvenile great white shark! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought to land a Florida great white shark from the beach. I’ve only heard of two other people doing that, and no one ever landed a great white and a mako in the same night!”

Taking care of the big shark, the group unhooked it and grabbed a quick picture while leaving it in the water. After reviving the great white it was released back into the Gulf of Mexico.