Fishermen Catch 2,500-Pound Great White Shark Off South Carolina Coast

The sport fishermen tagged the 14-foot shark and returned it to the water.

ByABC News
March 14, 2016, 11:59 AM

— -- A fishing captain helped give a fellow fisherman the experience of a lifetime when the pair reeled in a 2,500-pound great white shark.

The catch was made three miles off the coast of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, last week by Chip Michalove, the owner of Outcast Sport Fishing, and one of his customers.

The pair spent more than three hours reeling in the shark before tagging it and releasing it back into the water.

“We took a DNA clip from the left pectoral fin and then put an acoustic tag at the base of her dorsal fin,” Michalove told ABC affiliate WHAS-TV of the shark.

Michalove, a Louisville, Kentucky, native gave the shark a name meaningful to his home state.

“I schedule all of my charters in the springtime on the Kentucky Wildcat basketball schedule,” Michalove told WHAS. “This shark had to go into the database and when they asked me a name, I couldn't think of anything better than 'Wildcat.'"