iStockphoto / atese / campbellphotostudio
oceanic white tip shark next to large blue marlin
Capt. Nick Stanczyk is a living legend in the Florida Keys fishing community. Despite being just 41 years old, he has caught more swordfish during the day than most fishermen could ever dream of. Back in 2019 he caught this 757-pound swordfish off Islamorada that took them 8+ hours to reel in. Recently, he was fishing in The Bahamas for blue marlin and lost a massive fish to an oceanic white tip shark.
Oceanic white tip sharks are widely regarded as amongst the most aggressive sharks in the ocean. These sharks can grow up to 10ft long and weigh over 330 pounds. But this one evidently bite off more than it could chew!
Oceanic White Tip Shark Bites Huge Blue Marlin In Half
After seeing Capt. Nick Stanczyk share an Instagram clip of them bringing just the head of the blue marlin into the boat I headed over to the StanzFam YouTube channel for the full action. They were fishing across The Exumas, Cat Island, and finishing off at San Salvador, Bahamas.
On the second day, they hooked up to this huge blue marlin and thought they’d get a hand on the leader and a clean release but once the fish was getting close to the boat the oceanic white tip shark showed up to pounce on an easy meal. Let’s pick up the action on the video at around the 27-minute mark. They have been battling the marlin and the shark is just making its presence known:
NEXT: Florida Keys Captain Catches MASSIVE 600-Pound Swordfish That Looks Like A Dinosaur
The first blue marlin I ever caught was in Costa Rica. At some point, a mate bumped the reel and let the drag free spool for a while. So after fishing the blue for 45min on sailfish / light tackle, it ran out what felt like hundreds of yards again and I had to start from square one. I eventually caught the fish but felt completely wiped at the end.
That said, I cannot fathom fighting a big blue like that only to lose it right next to the boat by an eager oceanic white tip shark which have amongst the worst reputations of any sharks in the ocean. For the isolated clip of the marlin bitten in half on Instagram, you can head over to Stanczyk’s page!