---
title: "From the Archives: Shark Fever"
description: "The angler's \"heavy rod bent in a tight arc as the shark surged away from the pier with a huge hook embedded in its jaw. A multistrand, wire leader and 130-pound-test line connected the shark with the man who was soon to set a world record.\""
date: "2015-05-21"
modified: "2015-05-21"
authors:
  - name: "Outdoor Life Online Editor"
    link: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/authors/outdoor-life-online-editor/"
url: "https://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/fishing/2015/05/archives-shark-fever/"
categories:
  - "Fishing"
  - "Saltwater Fishing"
  - "Shark Fishing"
---

# From the Archives: Shark Fever

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/22/FXAS6XJXZ7QLHIYSPDXE3YX4FE.jpg>)

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/22/HGKG3VIME5VWUDRQJPYHX3YUJ4.jpg>)

**June 13, 1964**
 **A Record Breaking Feat**
The angler's "heavy rod bent in a tight arc as the shark surged away from the pier with a huge hook embedded in its jaw. A multistrand, wire leader and 130-pound-test line connected the shark with the man, who was soon to set a world record."

On that June afternoon in 1964, South Carolina angler Walter Maxwell hooked into a 1,780-pound predator and fought for five hours straight until he landed the huge fish. We're not sure what's more amazing: that Maxwell caught the shark from a pier, or that the shark still holds the top spot after 50-plus years.

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/22/XPYFQWGVHNML7JQXNQYQ5E3WSA.jpg>)

**January 1938**
Although many anglers remained "obsessed with an undisguised hatred of sharks," the article "The Shark As a Game Fish" reported that many attitudes toward sharks were shifting from animosity to curiosity.

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/22/BUOTU5ZEHTM4BPM2UFYYF4CZUE.jpg>)

**July 1976**
Fishermen used to cut off if they hooked into a shark, but targeting them became the new norm. Even "housewives are driving to Florida to catch them," wrote author Pete Miller of the craze in "The Widening of Jaws."

![](<https://www.outdoorlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/22/CGZLACFWDXFUIODPC52KMDDEYQ.jpg>)

**February 1998**
If you fish saltwater often enough, you're bound to encounter a shark (or several) sooner rather than later. In "Shark Attacks," OL caught up with anglers who'd survived some seriously harrowing scrapes.