KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Arizona man hauls in 575-pound salmon shark from Cook Inlet

Arizona man hauls in 575-pound salmon shark from Cook Inlet

by Channel 2 News staff
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Joe Pinto is going to need all the evidence he can get to back up one incredible fish tale when he gets home to Arizona, and Channel 2 is only happy to help.

The Scottsdale man -- making his first trip to Alaska and fishing for the first time in 18 years -- hauled in a giant 575-pound salmon shark from Cook Inlet on Monday. The beast measured in at 8 feet, 7 inches.

Pinto was in a party of six aboard a Ninilchik Charters boat, the Arctic Endurance captained by Allen Henderson, in search of halibut.

But while the group was looking for the proverbial barn door, a pesky salmon shark joined in the hunt and began attacking the potential catch.

That's when Henderson rigged up a line of 300-pound airline cable with cod fillet as bait and handed the pole to pinto. The shark took the bait and 45 minutes later Pinto had the monster in the boat.

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Web site, salmon sharks in the eastern North Pacific mature at about 5.2 feet for males and 6.7 feet for females. The maximum length is about 10 feet.

Pinto is taking 100 pounds of shark meat back home to Arizona.