It took Brett Rutledge nearly an hour to boat one of the biggest sharks in Alabama history on July 22. While competing with a team of anglers in the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, Rutledge hauled in a tiger shark weighing roughly 1,019 pounds.

If the catch holds up to scrutiny by the state, Rutledge’s tiger shark will set a new Alabama record for the species. The current state-record tiger shark, according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, weighed 988 pounds. It was caught near Gulf Shores by angler Larry Eberly in 1990.

“We caught seven sharks this morning, and this happened to the biggest,” Rutledge told Fox-10 News over the weekend. “I’m excited … and if it does hold, it will be a new state record, so that would be cool.”

No official length measurement was available, but judging from the photo of the anglers standing beside it, the tiger shark appeared to be well over 10 feet long. It also had some tremendous girth, along with a huge, blunt-nosed head that’s typical of big tigers.

Spud Marshall, who was fishing with Rutledge during the tournament, said they caught the shark while trolling. It turned a tough day of tournament fishing into one for the record books.

Read Next: Watch: Shark Drags Fisherman Overboard in Florida Everglades

“It was a fight, but we got it,” Marshall told reporters. “We went out to catch swordfish, but the bite just wasn’t happening. So, on our way in we decided to set some lures out, and we caught it on the way in.”

This year marks the 90^th annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. Billed as “the largest fishing tournament in the world,” the three-day event brings in over 3,000 anglers each year. It’s located on Dauphin Island where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.   

The world-record tiger shark was caught by Kevin Clapson on in March, 2004 near Ulladulla, Australia. Its official weight was 1,785 pounds, 11 ounces.

The post 1,000-Pound Tiger Shark Should Smash Alabama Record appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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That sinker on your fishing line is much more important than you realize. The type sinker you choose, its weight, shape, and manner in which it’s rigged and used can make or break a day of fishing.

In the most basic sense, a sinker is simply a chunk of metal used to take baits and lures to depths where fish are found. In most cases, weights are made of lead. But in recent years some states have made use of small lead weights unlawful because of the potential for lead poisoning in wildlife that may ingest sinkers.

Anglers must check state fishing regulations on lead weight use. Note that California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York require lead-free weight substitutes, chiefly for small weights under one ounce, or lead weights that may be small enough to be eaten by fish or game.

Federal lands and waters also may require lead substitutes for fishing. Such alternative lead weights (made of steel, tin, tungsten, and alloys) are more expensive than lead. But they’ve come down in price in recent years and are not cost-prohibitive. They manufactured by many companies, including Eagle Claw and sold by large retailers such as Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops.

While lead weight substitutes such as spark plugs, lug nuts, and pieces of bricks have been used successfully to take baits deep to fish, there’s no question that sinkers designed specifically for situational angling are best for that purpose. For practical fishing purposes, treat all lead and non-lead sinkers the same, since physical shape, design, and weight of a sinker are the key issues in their proper use.

Choose Fishing Weights Wisely

For the majority of anglers, buying sinkers is simply a matter of necessity, and usually is done as an after-thought following long decisions over the purchase of more expensive tackle. That’s unfortunate, because often the type, size, and weight of a sinker may not be best suited for the fishing job at hand.

There is a wide variety of fishing sinkers available and even greater variation as to how they can be rigged and used. It bears remembering that the correct choice of weights for fishing can be as important to angling success as employing the right lure or bait. Having the wrong type or size weight is among the surest ways of turning off fish; whereas the right weight can bring instant angling success.

Here are some proven fishing weight designs and how they can be used.

1. Split-Shot

The simple little split-shot weight that can be crimped onto an angler’s line wherever desired is among the most versatile of all fishing weights. Split-shot weights with ears or wings—for quick opening and closing with pliers—are among the best type, because of the speed at which they can be rigged. They also can be reused with ease.

Split-shot weights should be in every angler’s tackle box because of their versatility. They can be crimped singly or in a series to a main fishing line or onto a “dropper line.” They can also be pinched onto a swivel, snap, or another sinker above a lure or bait to help get it deep. They even can be fastened to a lure itself, on a hook shank, spinner-blade arm, or wherever desired.

The Water Gremlin and Eagle Claw make a variety of good split-shot assortment boxes. They’re in round, easy-to-stow plastic containers measuring about 1-inch thick and several inches across. The containers have dozens of split-shots, of varying weights that are easy to get to and use.

2. Rubber-Core Sinkers

Rubber-core and clasp-on or dog-ear sinkers still are in wide use because they easily can be fitted onto fishing line to get baits and lures deep. Most are for use when weights larger than split shot are needed. But such rubber-core weights can cause monofilament line twist when retrieved fast or trolled, and because of their on-line bulk, they can jam easily in rocky bottoms and on shell bars.

Still, when extra weight is needed in a hurry to get a lure or bait deep, a rubber-core or dog-ear sinker is a good choice.

Savvy anglers carry a good assortment of such sinkers that can quickly be pressed into service when needed to get lures or baits down where fish may lurk.

3. Sliding Sinkers

Sliding sinkers having a hole through their centers and are another excellent and extremely versatile type weight for fishing. The egg or barrel sinker and the worm weight are the most common of this type. They are among the most popular sinkers sold in tackle shops today.

The standard rig for an egg or barrel sinker is to run the fishing line through the hole in a weight (size determined by current and depth to be fished), then tie the line to a barrel or barrel-snap swivel. Then tie a leader from the other end of the swivel to a lure or hook. Often a plastic bead is fitted on the line between the weight and swivel to prevent the sinker from fraying a knot during fishing.

Rigged this way, the sliding sinker becomes, in essence, a deadly and simple fish-finder or Carolina rig that resists line twist. Depending on weight used, it can be fished on the bottom in almost any depth of water or current.

Walleye and smallmouth bass anglers commonly use such rigs for slowly working live baits along bottom. When a fish hits, they give slack line, and the fish swims off pulling line through the sinker. After waiting a few seconds for a fish to take the bait well, they set the hook. The sliding sinker works better than any other weight because the sinker remains stationary on bottom while a fish swims off unencumbered pulling line through the weight, with the fish unaware of the danger.

Barrel and egg sinkers should be selected so they have just enough weight to get to the bottom, but not so much weight that they act like a heavy anchor. An egg sinker that tumbles and rolls along bottom can even be desirable for river and tidewater anglers who wish to “cover” a lot of water with a single cast.

However, if it is desired that a bait remain stationary, a slightly heavier egg or barrel sinker should be employed to “hold” more securely in one spot.

Read Next: How to Choose a Fishing Hook

4. Worm Weights

A worm-weight or bullet sinker is typically a cone-shaped piece of lead with a hole through its center. It’s used primarily for freshwater bass fishing with soft plastic lures. They’re available in a wide variety of weights, and are superb for working plastic worms, grubs, and even natural baits through weeds, as the cone-shape of the weight bores and slides well through obstructions without easily fouling.

They’re simple to rig and use, and they can be fished as a sliding weight similar to egg or barrel sinkers. They can also be pegged to one spot on a fishing line with a toothpick, which makes them work much like a jig.

Some styles of worm weights are made with a wire screw that bores into a soft plastic lure’s nose. This anchors the weight to the lure, which can help make it more weedless (especially in brush and stumps), and in detecting light strikes from fish.

5. Walking Sinkers

This style of sliding sinker was popularized many years ago in the upper Midwest by Al and Ron Linder with their innovative Lindy sinker for the Lindy Tackle Company. Shaped somewhat like a bank sinker, though bent near the line hole and more square sides, the sinker is made to walk along the bottom during slow trolling or drifting.

It can be used with lures, but it’s original use was for very slow, precise trolling with natural baits—for walleyes, bass, smallmouths, and other species. The weights are sold by a number of companies, including Northland, and often are called “Walleye Sinkers.”

In use, line is threaded through the sinker hole, a barrel swivel is tied on, and a leader is run from the swivel to a hook for bait or a lure.

Its practical use is much like an egg sinker in a Carolina rig, but it’s shape and design make it more suitable for slow, precise, deep trolling.

Stationary Sinkers

This type of sinker is designed to take a lure or bait deep, and anchor it in a chosen spot to draw fish. The shape of the sinker is important, because when used correctly, its design makes it stationary.

This is critical because the heavier the weight, the more difficult it is to detect strikes from fish. The balancing act of selecting a proper stationary weight that allows the lightest possible sinker, often increases the number of strikes and the quantity of fish caught.

6. Flat, Coin, Disk, No-Roll Sinkers

Flat, coin-shaped, disk or “no roll” sinkers are available with holes through them, and they are excellent for stationary fishing. They lay completely horizontal or flat on bottom, and thus resist rolling or tumbling in current. River and tidewater anglers especially like such sinkers for stationary fishing.

Most are rigged with a swivel and leader, like a Carolina egg-sinker rig or a walking sinker set up. But this style is best for stationary fishing, usually with natural baits.

7. Pyramid, Dipsey, Bank Sinkers

The old standby pyramid, Dipsey, and bank sinkers are useful for much of the same stationary bait-soaking purposes. Many of these are commonly used by shore-bound anglers chasing catfish, and also for holding live baits in proven fish areas for species such as bass, stripers, trout, pike, and walleye.

Pyramid sinkers are four-sided, shaped like a pyramid with a point at one end, and resist tumbling in current.

Dipsey sinkers are more rounded, with a wire inserted into the weight. It features a twisted wire loop at its end for attaching line. Some such sinkers have a rubber-type locking loop that can be used to attach the sinker to line quickly without having to cut and retie lures or baits. Water Gremlin “Snap Loc” Dispsey sinkers are one type. They allow for a quick change of weight when current or water depth change demands it.

A bank sinker is a simple piece of lead with a tapered end having a hole through it, for threading line or leader.

Many anglers employ these types of sinkers with a sinker slide, which fits on the fishing line with a small plastic sleeve that allows for quickly changing weight or shape of the sinker.

Trolling Sinkers

These weights are streamlined and designed for use while trolling baits or lures. Most are long and slender, and some have simple wire loops at each end for attaching to line and leader ahead of baits and lures.

Because trolling can lead to line twist, some sinkers are fitted with swivels or a chain of swivels at each end to prevent twist. Swivels of some type are wise for using these sinkers to prevent monofilament lines twisting into a tangled mess, which causes lost fish.

Trolling sinkers help to get lures and baits deep when downriggers or wire lines are unavailable.

9. No-Snag Flexi Weight

This innovative weight design by Billy Bay allows anglers to add a slender series of weights (1/2 to 2 ounces) covered in rubber shrink wrap that can be added to fishing line or leader to get baits or lures deep.

The Billy Bay “Flexi Draggin’ Weight” design is almost snagless, and has many applications from bass casting, trolling, and drift fishing for salmon, trout, and stripers.

Such weights can be attached to other sinkers in a rig, or used in series together to get lures and baits deep.

Read Next: How to Pick the Right Kind of Fishing Line

10. Pencil Sinker

Used mostly by salmon and steelhead anglers working current, this straight, pencil-shaped sinker is designed to avoid snags in rivers and streams. The Bass Pro Shops design (https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-pencil-sinker/) has a wire ring at one end for attaching line, leader, and other terminal rigging. They can be used two or more at a time for increased depth fishing.

Some pencil sinkers are rigged with a piece of surgical tubing that allows such weights to be pushed into open tubing to take baits and lures deep. If a different weight is desired, the pencil lead can be removed from the tubing, and a different size pushed tightly into the rubber tube.

11. No-Snagg Sinker

Hall of Fame angler Ron Linder devised this improved slip-sinker weight. Its slight bend and bottom-bumper-style wire probe at its end allow it glide over rocks, shells, and other obstructions when taking baits deep during drifting or slow-trolling. This sinker is a design improvement over the original Lindy Walking Sinker.

A similar design is the “VMC Switch-It Slip Sinker”, which offers a quick attachment wire for changing weights.

Northland also makes a Rock Runner Sinker (1/4 to 1 1/2 ounce) of similar design that has a quick change weight snap, which allows you to change the sinker weight when needed.

12. Drop-Shot Sinker

This is a simple ball-shaped sinker with a looped wire attachment at its top. The looped wire is used for snugly fitting fishing line in a drop shot rig to take it deep, without need for tying line to lead. This allows for quick change adjustments in the weight for different fishing depths. Most drop-shot sinkers are rounded in shape to resist bottom fouling, and many come in weights from 1/8- to 3/4-ounce.

One innovative drop-shot sinker is the Bakudan design offered by Lunker City. It has a wire line attachment at one end, but it is a long and slender pencil shape, designed to resist deep snags.

13. Insert Weights

Insert or nail weights are designed chiefly for soft plastic finesse bass fishing. But they can be used for many soft lure fishing purposes, and also inserted into natural baits (minnows, leeches, crawfish, etc.) to make them more desirable to gamefish.

Used as a hidden belly weight, these sinkers can give lifelike action to a soft-plastic jerk bait, and can give them a fish-appealing, suspended quality, too, without bulky add-on sinkers. This is especially beneficial in ultra clear-water fishing.

14. Hook Weights

These are small, slender, pinch-on style weights designed to fit hooks to get baits or lures deep. By weighting a hook, they also can give a lure more balance and offer a more natural action to tempt fish.

The Bass Pro Shops XPS Hook Weights are available in six sizes from 1/16- to 1/2-ounce and can be added to soft plastic worm or jerk bait hooks, spinner-baits, spoons, plugs, and hooks used with natural baits.

Finally, anglers should keep in mind that whenever rigging and employing weights for fishing, the best results are had when only just enough weight is used to get lures or baits in position to catch fish. Too much weight makes baits and lures appear unnatural to gamefish, and difficult for anglers to detect strikes and set hooks.

In this respect, sinkers are a lot like fishing rods. The best ones are tailor-made to the fishing at hand, allowing just enough influence to hook, fight, and land fish, but not so much that it impairs sport.

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The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation reports that a young angler caught an unusual fish from a neighborhood pond over the weekend. The short, bream-shaped fish had human-like teeth and looked a lot like its close cousin, the red piranha. Charlie Clinton’s catch turned out to be a red-bellied pacu, which is another South American species that is occasionally pulled from U.S. waterways.

Officials believe someone released the pacu into the pond. The toothy invaders are a popular aquarium species and once they outgrow their tanks, they’re often dumped illegally into local waterways, where they can easily take hold and negatively impact native fish populations. They’ve been caught from a few different fisheries in Oklahoma before. Because they’re “an exotic, invasive species that can cause damage to local ecosystems,” the ODWC asks anglers to kill any pacu they catch.

Dear, whoever released an entire Pacu (a South American fish closely related to Piranha) into a NEIGHBORHOOD pond;

how dare you. pic.twitter.com/WwQqJ9REAz

— Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (@OKWildlifeDept) July 18, 2023

“Dear, whoever released an entire Pacu (a South American fish closely related to Piranha) into a NEIGHBORHOOD pond;” ODWC wrote in a Twitter post Tuesday, “how dare you.”

Although they look similar to their carnivorous cousins, pacu are actually omnivores that feed on a variety of bugs, nuts, and vegetation. This means they’re more of a threat to native fish populations than humans.

Their teeth should still be respected, though. Just ask Sandra Whaley, whose 11-year-old granddaughter caught a one-pound pacu from Oklahoma’s Fort Cobb Lake in 2018. While unhooking the fish, it bit Whaley’s hand (luckily the bite was minor.)

Read Next: Florida Has Become the Budget-Friendly Amazon for Anglers

These hearty fish from the Amazon can be found in several other U.S. states, including South Carolina and especially Florida—where they thrive in the warm water canals and lakes along with other exotic species like peacock bass. Pacu have even been caught as far north as Michigan, New Jersey, and New York. Most of these catches were panfish-sized, but pacu can grow much larger, reaching up to 90 pounds and over three feet in length, according to ODWC.

The post Kid Catches Fish with Human-Like Teeth in an Oklahoma Pond appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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New York has a new number-one gobbler in the record books, and it was taken by an unlikely hunter in a location that some might find surprising. First-time turkey hunter Christopher Tellone killed the giant tom on Long Island in Suffolk County, which held its first-ever spring turkey season this year. And if Tellone’s state-record bird is any indication, the season was an even bigger success than state wildlife officials had hoped.

The 28-pound gobbler sported a 10.5-inch beard and a pair of 1.75-inch spurs, and using the National Wild Turkey Federation’s scoring system, it had a total score of 84.2. This makes it the highest scoring “typical” wild turkey ever killed in New York. (The state maintains a separate record book for “nontypical” wild turkeys—those with more than one beard—and the highest scoring nontypical bird was taken in 2002 by hunter Roland Palmer in Chenango County. Palmer’s gobbler weighed 25 pounds, had seven total beards and a total score of 160.)

A Deer Hunter’s First Tom    

Tellone, 32, lives in New York City but is no stranger to the woods. A lifelong deer hunter, he grew up chasing whitetails with his dad upstate. So, when he heard Long Island was holding its first-ever spring turkey season, he figured he might as well give it a shot.

“I love to hunt deer, and have most of my life, but I don’t know much about turkey hunting,” Tellone tells Outdoor Life. “The places I’ve hunted deer are a long way from the city, and when New York opened a firearms turkey season in Suffolk County for the first time this year, I decided I was gonna get after the birds because there are turkeys just 90 minutes from where I live in the city.”

In March, he started scouting on public land in the county and set up a few trail cameras. It didn’t take long for him to locate some turkeys near a large open field, and he went out for the first time on May 2, the second day of the spring season.   

“I got to my hunting area late that morning after sunrise, and toms were going crazy, gobbling everywhere,” Tellone says. “On my way back to the truck, I spotted the birds, tried calling to them, but they wouldn’t come close.”

Realizing that his lack of experience with a call might be doing him more harm than good, Tellone bought a full-body strutter decoy before going back to his spot on May 7. But it was 25 degrees warmer by then, and the gobblers had gone silent. He hunted another full day without seeing or hearing a bird, and was starting to think his window of opportunity had already closed.

“Then I read a story about hunting later in the season when it was hot and the birds weren’t gobbling much,” he says. “The story said to be aggressive, and not to give up, and that’s what I did. My dad taught me never to give up.”

Late-Season Turkey Tactics

On May 10, he left New York City by 3:30 a.m. and made it to his spot by 4:30, roughly 45 minutes before first light. He walked to the area where he thought the birds were roosted and heard some activity right away.

After sunrise, he spotted a couple hens and some toms 80 yards away in an open field. He stopped and called, but after not getting a response, he figured he could close the distance by half and get in shotgun range.

“There were four big toms and they were pushing two hens around in the field,” Tellone says. “The only way I could get closer was to belly crawl through the cold mud toward them. I used my turkey decoy as cover in front of me as I wiggled into the field.”

Noticing a slight depression in the field, he crawled down into it and got on the opposite side while the six turkeys headed his direction. The entire stalk took about an hour. He came out of the depression near a small pine tree, and he placed his decoy beside the trunk for additional cover.

 “They hadn’t seen me, and right then the hens turned my way, pulling the four gobblers along behind them. One hen passed by me, and the first gobbler walked within range. I figured he was the alpha tom, so I shot him with my Mossberg 500 from about 35 yards.”

A Shocked Taxidermist

His turkey choke (which he had just received in the mail the night before) did its job, as did the Federal turkey loads he was using. (He says he can’t recall what size shot he used.) The bird folded on the spot.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen a dead wild turkey, and of course it was my first tom,” he says. “I called my dad from the field and told him the bird was huge and really heavy.”

Still, he didn’t realize how big the bird really was until he brought it to his taxidermist.    

“The taxidermist told me it was the biggest bird he’d ever seen, and he’s an ardent and well-traveled turkey hunter.”

This prompted Tellone to score the bird using NWTF’s system. Had he not done so, he never would have known that his gobbler was the highest-scoring wild turkey ever taken in New York, surpassing a 24-year-old state record.

Read Next: College Kid’s First Turkey Turns Out to Be a Record Breaker

Tellone’s gobbler wasn’t the only bird of note taken during Suffolk County’s first-ever spring season, either. Just four days before he sealed the deal on the 28-pounder, another hunter tagged a record-book tom on public land there.

“When we checked with NWTF, we learned that another big Suffolk County tom had also been taken this year,” Tellone says. “I think that bird now ranks as No. 3 in the state’s record book.”

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John Byrd Jr., of Bowling Green, Virginia has been fishing the same private farm pond for decades, but he’s never caught a fish quite like the one he landed earlier this month. The chain pickerel had a bright blue mouth, which is the result of a rare genetic pigment mutation, according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

“I’d never seen one that color! And I’ve been fishing in that pond for more than 20 years!” Byrd told the department, referring to the 14-acre pond he frequents in Caroline County.

The fish ate a Whopper Plopper lure and measured between 11 and 12 inches long. After landing it, Byrd decided to keep the pickerel and brought it to his taxidermist to be mounted. But first he contacted VDWR regional fisheries biologist Scott Hermann, who confirmed both the species and the rarity of Byrd’s catch.

“The coloration expressed by the blue pickerel is extremely rare,” Hermann said. “It pretty much falls into the once-in-a-lifetime category of catches.”

Hermann explained that chain pickerel, which are native to Virginia and other East Coast states, typically have a green coloration. This comes from the yellow pigments found in the fish’s skin tissue. Blue-mouth pickerel lack these yellow pigments, so instead of mixing with yellow to form green, the tissue shows up as a vibrant blue color.

Read Next: Ultra-Rare Orange Smallmouth Bass Caught in Michigan

While rare, other anglers have caught blue-mouth pickerel before. The first known report of a “blue pickerel” came from an angler in Ithaca, New York, in the late 1960s, according to one evolutionary biologist familiar with the species. After other anglers reported similar catches, a follow-up study determined that only .2 percent of all the chain pickerel caught in the area over six years were “blue pickerel.”

As the VDWR points out, other blue-mouth pickerel have been caught by East Coast anglers more recently than that. An angler in Maryland caught one from Loch Raven Reservoir in 2014, and in 1997, a Pennsylvania angler caught two of them from different lakes in the same month. Several other unconfirmed catches have also been reported on various fishing forums over the years.

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An alligator bit an unidentified, 79-year-old man while the man was out for an early morning walk near his home in Naples, Florida on July 13. The attack occurred around 5 a.m. at Forest Glen Golf Course and Country Club, according to Fox 4 News.

The victim, who asked not to be identified, called 911 immediately after the attack and calmly reported what happened. He said that he was walking in the middle of the street when the alligator “came from out of nowhere” and latched onto his leg.

“I just got bit by an alligator in my community and I’m walking home,” the man said in a recording of the 911 call that was obtained by Fox 4. “I was just strolling along listening to my radio, listening to Willie’s Roadhouse.”

He was life-flighted by helicopter to a local hospital, where doctors treated the wound on his leg and then discharged him. His injuries consisted mainly of a large bite on his knee, which required more than 50 staples to close.  

“There’s a lot of skin ripped off I can see,” he said at one point during the 911 call.

Although he originally told dispatchers that he thought the alligator was around three feet long, licensed trappers found a 6-foot, 9-inch female gator at the scene. Witnesses and local law enforcement confirmed that it was the same alligator that attacked the elderly man, and it was promptly removed from the 630-acre residential community. (Forest Glen has declined to comment on the incident.)

Read Next: Video of Alligator Chasing Fisherman Leads to Fishing Ban in Coastal Community

“Go figure, out for a walk to stay healthy,” he told the dispatcher, who replied: “And you get bit by an alligator.”

Because of the time of year and the fact that it was still dark out, officials believe the gator was defending its nest when it attacked. Female alligators typically lay clutches of eggs in late June or early July, according to FWC. They’ll incubate the eggs for more than 60 days until they hatch. They’re extremely protective of their nests during this time, especially around dawn and dusk when predators are most likely to be on the prowl.

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A contractor for the state of Florida captured a large python and discovered her nest with a record number of 111 unhatched eggs, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

“The Python Action Team Removing Invasive Constrictors (a.k.a. our PATRIC program) helps remove these invasive, non-native snakes year-round,” wrote the FWC in a July 13 post. “A large invasive Burmese python with a record nest of 111 eggs was removed from the sensitive Everglades ecosystem thanks to PATRIC.”

This record-busting nest comes on the heels of another python record. On July 10, a record 19-foot, 125-pound Burmese Python was caught in the Everglades by a pair of young python hunters, Jake Waleri and Stephen Gauta. This is the longest python ever recorded in the state (watch a video of that hunt here). That snake was also captured in South Florida’s Everglades, in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

This pair of record python catches in South Florida come just as the 2023 Florida Python Challenge gets underway on Aug. 4. The annual competition is a popular event put on by the state that offers up to $30,000 in prize money for persons who catch the most and biggest pythons in Florida.

Read Next: Snake Hunters Remove 223 Invasive Burmese Pythons from the Everglades in Annual Challenge

FWC says snake removal “helps our native birds, mammals and other reptiles by removing non-native, invasive pythons from the Florida Everglades.”

Burmese pythons negatively impact the Everglades ecosystem by preying upon and competing with native wildlife. The removal of this python and its 111 unhatched eggs helps prevent future negative impacts to our native wildlife, wrote the FWC on its post. Non-native reptiles including Burmese pythons can be dispatched year-round on any private property, and on 32 state managed lands without a hunting license or permits. This is done to control the burgeoning invasive assault of pythons that have invaded South Florida.

Since 2000 FWC says over 18,000 pythons have been removed from South Florida. When the state began offering a paid python removal fee to snake catchers starting in 2017, the number of snakes caught and removed has skyrocketed in number.

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Jake Waleri and Stephen Gauta were out snake hunting about 1 a.m. on July 10 in South Florida’s Big Cypress National Preserve when they made history. Big Cypress, which is south of Lake Okeechobee, is wild Everglades country. The preserve is jam-packed with invasive Burmese pythons that have devastated the state’s small mammal population in recent years.

Waleri and Gauta, better known as the “Glades Boys,” are veteran python catchers and hunting guides. They’ve captured dozens of snakes, some of them up to 18 feet long. But that night, they encountered their Holy Grail: a record-breaking 19-foot female with a bad attitude.

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A post shared by Glades Boys Python Adventures (@gladesboys)

“It’s the only snake that scared me enough that I just didn’t know what to do,” Waleri, 22, said in a video recounting the experience. “We spotted it at 1 a.m., and thought it was a 10-footer. Then we realized it was an absolute monster.”

Capturing that monstrous snake was a chaotic mess, Waleri said.

“We tried to pin the head, but that wasn’t working,” the Ohio State University student explained. “So I just jumped on it. It was a real fight.”

Waleri says they tried to pin the snake with a net, and the reptile even struck at him. But eventually they subdued the python and killed it.

Knowing they had a huge python, Waleri and Gauta contacted the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. The environmental advocacy non-profit has been involved in python capture for years to help save the Everglades from the invasive snakes. They spoke to Conservancy biologist Ian Easterling and eventually brought the snake to the Conservancy in Naples for official measurements. The duo also made the decision to donate the python’s body to research.

Easterling measured the snake at 19 feet and 125 pounds. The previous Florida record Burmese python was 18 feet, 9 inches long and weighed 215 pounds. He says the 19-footer is the longest Bumese python ever recovered in Florida, and perhaps anywhere.

“We had a feeling these snakes get this big and now we have clear evidence,” Easterling said. “Her genetic material may prove valuable for an eventual understanding of the founding population of South Florida. We will be collecting measurements and samples that will be distributed to our research collaborators.”

Easterling said the 19-foot snake had likely recently laid a hundred or more eggs and was searching for its next meal.

“They’re getting huge while eating our native wildlife,” Easterling said. “The bonus is that these guys … brought it to us for the official measurements, so we’ll be collecting the genetic information and the diet information and other data.”

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Gauta is seeing more small mammals in areas where they have been removing snakes from the Everglades and believes python hunters are having an impact on the invasive predator snake population.

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“It’s pretty terrifying that these animals are so destructive to our ecosystem, but knowing we can take monsters [like this snake] out of the Everglades makes you feel good,” Gauta said. “The more people we get involved in these efforts [removing pythons] the more benefits we’ll see.”

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Sharks have been a major problem in the Northeast U.S. in recent weeks. Five people were bitten by the toothy predators in just two days around July 4th on New York’s Long Island; now videos have surfaced showing a shark attacking and killing a seal in Massachusetts has prompted authorities to close some beaches near Nantucket Island.

The video, recorded by Nick Gault from a boat near Great Point on the northern tip of Nantucket Island, shows blood-stained water from a shark ravaging a seal right beside the beach. The seal, missing its tale but still alive, later washes ashore and is set upon by gulls. The Costaka-Coatue Wildlife Refuge at Great Point was closed to swimming as a precaution against sharks, according to the Nantucket Current.

“Those videos are pretty troubling, and no human could survive that,” Diane Lang a stewardship manager on Nantucket told Fox News. “The policy is in place now. We’re telling our visitors no swimming at Great Point. I was in touch with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and they’re in full agreement [with the closure].”

Lang said that seal populations in the area have disappeared following the shark attack at Nantucket. Apparently, seals knew it was time to skedaddle. Tiger shark schools have been spotted in some Northeast coastal areas recently, with up to 50 sharks in one school seen cruising near the Long Island shore.

Read Next: Rabid Beaver Attacks Swimming Georgia Girl, Her Father Beats It to Death

Major shark precautionary measures are underway in the region. Lifeguards are patrolling beach areas with jet skis, and aerial drones are being deployed in some Northeast coastal regions to monitor sharks and warn swimmers about their presence.

“Drones will increase the shark monitoring capacity of local governments across Long Island and New York City, ensuring local beaches are safe for all beachgoers, Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.”

Meanwhile, wildlife managers are reminding beachgoers that shark attacks on humans are the exception, not the norm.

“New York’s shores are home to a wild and natural marine ecosystem that supports the annual migration of sharks to our coastal waters,” New York Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement. “While human-shark interactions are rare, DEC encourages the public to follow shark safety guidance to help minimize the risk of negative interactions with sharks this summer.”

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A girl was bitten by a rabid beaver while swimming at the north end of Lake Lanier outside of Atlanta on July 8, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and local news sources. The girl’s father came to her rescue and beat the beaver to death.

Upon the agency’s request, the dead beaver was obtained by Hall County Animal Control for testing, then shipped to Georgia’s Public Head Lab, which tested the animal and discovered it was positive for rabies. The condition of the young girl and her name were not made available to the public.

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“There was nothing to indicate that there were baby beavers in the vicinity that were being protected, or that the beaver was sick, or whether it was just an otherwise angry beaver,” said DNR Lt. Judd Smith.

One recent Facebook report stated that two people had encountered a rabid beaver in the same general Sardis area of Georgia. But no one was reported bitten by the animal.

While beaver attacks on humans are rare, they aren’t unheard of. In most cases the animal attacks to protect its young or its lodge, or—as in this case—because it’s rabid.

At least one fatal attack on a human by a beaver has been reported. In 2013, a 60-year-old fisherman in Belarus died after a beaver bit his leg and severed an artery and a snorkeler in Nova Scotia was bitten by a beaver in 2014. In 2012, a Pennsylvania Boy Scout leader was attacked by a beaver (in that particular beaver attack, the man’s troop came to his defense and stoned the critter to death).

Karen Bond detailed in a Facebook post how she was attacked by a beaver in 2016 while swimming in the Quinnebaug River in eastern Connecticut. Her report is accompanied by gruesome photos resulting from the attack.

“I shoved my hand in its mouth to get it to release me and tore the ligament in my thumb,” she writes. “I had no idea what it was while screaming bloody murder until Gahrett Bond jumped in and unclamped its jaw from me and pushed me away. While he was swimming away it grabbed his leg and he was bit. We did not provoke this beaver, we had no idea it was there because he attacked underwater. We did nothing to this beaver. But they do attack viciously.”

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