TEXAS CITY, Texas - A local fisherman broke a Texas state record after he reeled in a hammerhead shark while fishing in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend.
Tim McClellen has been offshore fishing now for 20 years.
"When you put your line in, you never know what's going to bite," said McClellen.
But nothing like this had ever bitten before. He was in the Gulf with his buddies under a moonlit sky when the battle with the hammerhead shark began.
"It's a beast," he said. "We were able to grab it and hold on tight."
By Sunday morning, they were back at the Texas City Dike ready to weigh in the shark at the Texas City Jaycee's Tournament.
"You start watching the scale and it's at 400 lbs. and it's only the tail up, so we knew it was a lot more," said McClellen.
The shark weighed in at 1,033 lbs. breaking a Texas state record that had stood for 30 years.
"You can fish all your life and not catch something like this," said McClellen. "It's the one monster I'd been looking for for 20 years."
His big catch earned him a first place finish at the top of the leaderboard and a spot among a handful of fishermen who have ever bagged the big one.
"It felt good for them to say 'You're in the club now,'" said McClellen.