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Why this man doesn’t want you to know about his 800-pound shark

Posted at 7:34 AM, Apr 22, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-22 07:34:33-04

MILTON, Fla. (WKRG) -  A Florida fisherman made the catch of a lifetime -- an 800-pound shark. Joey Polk reeled in the 805-pound Mako shark last week.

Polk and his friends would have rather their catch go unnoticed.

They said they don't want people to try and ban land-based shark fishing and they don't want to scare off tourists with the impression the Gulf of Mexico is filled with sharks.

"We just want to save our sport the more people that know about it the more people that crowd our beach, with hundreds of people swimming that's not what we want," Polk said. "Probably 95 percent [of what we catch is] catch and release."

Someone snapped a photo of the shark while the fishermen stopped to get gas. They posted the photo on social media and the story went viral.