Texas Angler ‘Blessed’ to Reel In Huge Hammerhead in South Texas Gulf Coast—Over 13 Feet Long

Texan Rodrigo Rodriguez caught a huge hammerhead shark that measured 13 feet, 2 inches, on Saturday, June 8. Illustration by The Epoch Times, Courtesy of Rodrigo Rodriguez

Rodrigo Rodriguez drives four hours to the beach each weekend, and each trip is a chance to beat his personal best, to come home to Houston with an even bigger hammerhead shark story.

Mr. Rodriguez, an oil refinery worker, drove south of Galveston and, on Saturday, June 8, reeled in his biggest hammerhead yet. His last largest, caught two weeks earlier, was 11 feet, 6 inches long. This new one was 13 feet, 2 inches.

The bigger hammerheads are to be caught closer to the Corpus Christi shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico, rather than further northeast, Mr. Rodriguez said, though he’s not sure why.

“I go more down south to the Texas Gulf Coast, which is Aransas, where I caught the big hammerhead,” he said. “I love going down, down south.

“May and June is when the big ones come out. I got lucky that day.”

June 28 was Mr. Rodriguez’s 27th birthday, making this new personal best an early birthday gift.

Friends of Mr. Rodriguez hold the hammerhead to be photographed. Courtesy of Rodrigo Rodriguez

Mr. Rodriguez and a friend examine the huge fish. Courtesy of Rodrigo Rodriguez

At around 6 a.m., it was sunny and hot in Port Aransas. Mr. Rodriguez had already cast his exceedingly robust Okuma T-RX 80 wide line out to sea when he heard a sound that spoke volumes.

The reel started peeling off like there was no tomorrow, and it appeared a hammerhead had grabbed the bait and was speeding off into the deep blue sea.