Record-breaking shark snapped SC teacher’s fishing rod — so she pulled it in by hand

A high school teacher reeled in a record-setting setting shark during a recent fishing expedition, but the fish didn’t make it easy.

Nikki Colwell, of Inman, South Carolina was in a boat about 9 miles off the coast with her father, who she’s been casting lines with for most of her 27 years.

“Ever since I could stand, I’ve had a rod in my hand,” she said.

It was April 18 and though sunny weather had been promised, an overcast sky and choppy waters were what they got. So they decided to cut their weekend trip short and head back to Edisto Island, but fatefully for Colwell, their anchor got caught.

Best thing to do is to wait it out, they decided, let the problem fix itself.

“We were like, ‘OK, well we’ll just shark fish then, I guess.’”

The Berea High School teacher has pulled plenty of sharks out of the ocean, including a 505-pound hammerhead on another venture. This time around, she was hoping for a tiger shark between 500-600 pounds.

“I like to eat shark, my dad likes to eat shark, so I just wanted something we could keep and eat,” she said.

Colwell’s eaten all kinds and her preference in preparation is shark steaks with a chili lime vinaigrette. Or small pieces “breaded like chicken nuggets.”

That day she was nibbling on a PB&J, when she was interrupted by something tugging on the line.

At first, the 173-pound spinner shark didn’t put up too much fight.

“I let it run for a few minutes so I could finish my Uncrustable sandwich,” she said.

It was time to get to work.

“When we finally got it to the boat, that is kind of when it went crazy,” she said, maybe realizing it was about to get gaffed, which it did. Colwell’s father put the large hook through its gills as it thrashed in the water with enough force to snap the top off her rod.

“It was crazy … I’ve never had a rod break,” she said.

With the rod ruined, she grabbed the line and painstakingly pulled the shark in by hand.

When they finally got the spinner shark on board and secured “(we were) pretty worn out, hands were trashed from hand-lining, and gaffing and tying the ropes off and everything as (the shark) was going crazy,” Colwell said. “(I) was ready to sit down for a second and celebrate.”

They didn’t immediately realize just what they had pulled in. But Colwell’s father, with decades of shark fishing experience, estimated weight using the shark’s measurements.

The current record at the time was 171 pounds for a spinner shark, Colwell knew from memory, and this specimen was bigger, or close to it. They needed to find a scale.

The pair left the shark in the boat, threw 150 pounds of ice over it, and hauled the boat to Charleston Harbor Marina for a weigh-in. It came in at 173 pounds, 5 ounces. They called the Department of Natural Resources with the news.

It took nearly a month to certify the record, time enough for DNR to interview Colwell and examine documentation, and get Gov. Henry McMaster’s signature.

Colwell’s certificate arrived Monday, “In recognition for landing a state record marine game fish in South Carolina,” it reads.

“Don’t get me wrong, shark fishing is very boring sometimes,” Colwell said, but patience and persistence sometimes pay off.

A record-setting catch is tough to top, and next up, she’s angling for something a little more attainable.

“My goal for the summer is to catch a bass,” she said.

This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Record-breaking shark snapped SC teacher’s fishing rod — so she pulled it in by hand."