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The 2023 Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo was held over the weekend and at least one state fishing record is set to fall.
Angler Brett Rutledge spent about 45 minutes reeling in what turned out to be a 1,019-pound tiger shark. They landed the record-sized Tiger Shark while fishing off of Dauphin Island in the 90th Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, a tournament that first began back in 1929 but has skipped a handful of years over the past nine decades.
According to Outdoor Life, the existing Alabama state fishing record for tiger sharks is a 988-pound fish caught in 1998 by angler Larry Eberly in Gulf Shores. This fish would break that record by 31 pounds.
Footage of the record-setting shark hitting the scales has gone viral on YouTube.
The IGFA fishing world record for this species is a fish that weighed 1785 lb 11 oz. It was caught in 2004 in Ulladulla, Australia by angler Kevin James Clapson. Suffice it to say these sharks get BIG.
The 1,019-pound shark was easily the largest fish caught in the 90th Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. Other big fish weighed in the event include a 423-pound unspecified billfish, a 557-pound tiger shark, 500-pound unspecified billfish, and a 590-pound tiger.
Angler Brett Rutledge told the local news “I just used normal fishing technique. We caught our bait yesterday. All the crew talked about where we were going, and we set up.”
Rutledge added “we caught seven sharks this morning, and this happened to be the biggest. I’m excited it’s fun, and if it does hold, it will be a new state record, so that would be cool.”
This would be a second state fishing record for Brett Rutledge in Alabama. Back in 2014, he smashed the state record for Cubera Snapper when he caught an 84.9-pound fish off Dauphin Island while fishing with pal David Simms.
Here are some of the other big sharks caught in the tournament:
Tigers are notoriously voracious predators and eaters. Fishermen have found peculiar items in the bellies of these sharks including a license plate.
And while no shark actively seeks out conflict with humans, Tiger’s have a bit of a reputation. This viral video from May shows a Tiger Shark charging a kayak fisherman in Hawaii who pulled their foot out of the water at the last possible second.
There were cash prizes for the biggest fish in each category of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. The tournament published a full list of those cash prizes on their Facebook page.