World record shark catch makes for one heck of a fish story.

Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Big fish stories are a dime a dozen in the outdoor writing trade, but I don't know that I've ever written about an Oregon man catching a bigger fish than the one that has Alton E. "Al" Sullivan's name headed for the record books.

A 723-pound thresher shark Sullivan caught in Hawaiian waters apparently will set a new International Game Fish Association world record for the men's 130 pound-line class. The existing record of 676 pounds was set in New Zealand in 1978.

Sullivan, who turns 61 next week, was born in Cottage Grove and grew up and went to school in Albany. He now lives in Lebanon, where he owns a construction company.

And while he hails from trout, salmon and steelhead country, Sullivan has been hooked on deep sea fishing for almost 30 years.

He has owned the "Illusions," a 39-foot fishing boat, for "seven or eight years." The boat is based in Kona and captained by Ted Hicks. Sullivan spends every February fishing off the boat and again during a couple of deep sea fishing tournaments in July. The rest of the year, the boat is chartered out to other fishermen.

Sullivan has caught a lot of big fish over the years, including marlins weighing 600 and 667 pounds.

And on the morning of Feb. 2 he was dreaming of finally landing a 1,000-pound marlin when something grabbed one of two 6- to 7-pound tuna that he was using for bait, one near the surface and the other behind a downrigger running about 100 feet below the surface. The shark hit the deep bait.

Thresher sharks are said to be night feeders. On a dark, cloudy day at that depth, Sullivan said, it must have seemed like dinner time to the big shark.

"We thought maybe it was a big marlin," he said. "He didn't jump, but he made a couple of powerful runs. He almost spooled me twice, and I had more than a half-mile of line on the reel - 3,000 feet and he almost took it all.

"We never knew what we had until an hour and 40 minutes went by and he finally surfaced next to the boat."

What they had was a fish that would measure 16 feet in length (7 feet of which was tail) and 8 feet across at the pectoral fins.

"I've caught quite a few fish that have fought longer battles," Sullivan said. "But this one was stronger - he put more pressure on that 130 (pound test line) than any of them. He didn't want to give up very easily."

Sullivan and the boat crew were surprised to see a thresher shark surface. They are seldom caught on hook and line.

Even with 400- or 600-pound test leader, Sullivan said, a thresher shark's sharp teeth "will usually cut the leader within four or five minutes.

"I lucked out. This one was hooked just in the corner of his jaw so the line was not in the mouth. It's the only way he stayed on."

The Florida-based International Game Fish Association is reviewing Sullivan's shark, and the group is poised to pronounce it the new record for the 130-pound line class, said IGFA spokesman Pete Johnson.

Sullivan's world record rests on IGFA verification of the fish's weight and of the strength of the line used to catch it.

"You send in your leader and line for testing," Sullivan said. "The line is supposed to break before you hit 130 pounds of pressure. That's the main thing. They've got all the pictures and measurements they need."

Pictures are all Sullivan will have to remember the fish by, as he had no desire to have a mounted shark in his living room.

"I've got quite a few fish on the wall already," he said.

After the catch was documented, "we cut several hundred pounds of meat off and gave away all we could," he said. The rest of the carcass was towed out to sea and "recycled."

Martin named to Hall of Fame

Another bit of "big" fishing news involves Jim Martin, former chief of fisheries for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Gov. John Kitzhaber's "Salmon Adviser" for three years.

Martin - who lives in Mulino - has been named to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, an arm of the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Hayward, Wis.

It is unusual for a fish biologist to be inducted into the Hall of Fame; most members are anglers, writers or broadcasters.

After retiring from state service, Martin was hired by the Berkley Fishing Tackle Company and became the first professional conservation director on the staff of a tackle company.

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Alton Sullivan is pictured with his world-record thresher shark.