‘Once in a lifetime fish’: Hilton Head charter captain tags massive hammerhead shark

If Chip Michalove’s conscience wasn’t so strong, he could have gone down in South Carolina history.

That would’ve required roping in and killing a massive hammerhead shark Wednesday morning that he estimates was 13 1/2 feet and tipped the scale at over 1,000 pounds. Michalove gets the weight of the fish from a chart that gives length to weight ratio. And this shark was “extra fat,” he said.

And if Michalove is on the dot, the fish would have shattered the state record.

It’s something the Hilton Head Island captain said he might have done 15 years ago to claim the title for largest hammerhead caught in the Palmetto State — a record that was set in Charleston 33 years ago after a nearly 600 pound hammerhead was captured and killed.

But now, it’s something Michalove wouldn’t think twice about doing.

“The big sharks, they’ve changed me,” Michalove, who owns Outcast Sport Fishing, said Thursday. “They’ve given me a better life, so I definitely want to make sure I take care of these guys.”

And as promised, when he got hold of the estimated 1,000 pound marvel, he quickly tagged and released the shark without compromising her health and taking care that the hook didn’t get lodged into his hands.

The massive fish got a tag identifying who caught her and gives contact information. It’s not a fancy one, like the acoustic tag, which allows receivers off the beach monitor when the shark enters certain waters. But Michalove, who’s known as the great white shark whisperer, wasn’t expecting he’d come upon the hammerhead a second time.

On Tuesday, the hammerhead played coy. She’d propel up to the boat, never taking the bait, and then retreat. And she’d do it again. With no luck, the shark nagged at Michalove’s mind the rest of the day.

The waters were too rough to go out far the next morning, so the captain and two veteran anglers from Virginia only had hope to rely on. But Michalove knew the anglers wouldn’t be impressed if all they caught were lemon or black tip sharks.

“I gotta catch this guy Godzilla or, you know, he may be disappointed,” he told himself.

By 10:30 a.m., about a few miles from Hilton Head Island, the same half-ton glory appeared. She grabbed the bait, then within 60 seconds, smoked 400 yards off the line and “took off like a bus.” And yes, fighting to get the colossal hammerhead tagged was exactly like reeling in a great white.

All aboard knew they’d gotten a hold of the largest hammerhead shark the state had ever recorded, a “once in a lifetime fish” — one that weighed more than the three of them combined. But there was no discussion. No pause. They would immediately release her.

“This fish is probably older than I am and to just to kill it to make a few headlines or to get my name in a record book, isn’t worth it,” Michalove said.

It’s not what happened in Charleston over three decades ago. In 1989, a captured hammerhead broke a record, tipping the scales at 588 pounds, according to South Carolina’s saltwater game fish records. And while state law does not prohibit people from baiting or fishing sharks from the beach, Hilton Head municipal code does.

But Michalove sees no gain in killing these extraordinary fish, with their wide and flat heads that allow them to better scan and scavenge. Really, the presence of large hammerheads shows the good health of in South Carolina’s Lowcountry waters, he said.

Hammerheads, specifically great hammerheads, will be around through the end of August to chow down on tarpon. As Michalove puts it, it’s already shaping up to be a good hammerhead season.

On Thursday afternoon, he said 650 pounds was tugging at his line: “We hooked another one!”