While filming for the outdoor television program “Predator Pursuit” in search of an elusive mako shark with bow fishing gear, the show’s host Jeff Thomason got the surprise of his life. He didn’t just take your average apex predator - he took a new world record.

"Predator Pursuit" host, Jeff Thomason, poses with the NEW bowfishing world record mako.

Thomason and a crew of about five others were fishing with Captain Matt “Mako” Potter who also helped reel in the previous record mako in mid-June of this year. They were fishing several miles off the California coast when they began to chum.

“We are out there in the middle of the deep blue,” Thomason stated in a recent interview with the Lone Star Outdoor News, “Every once in a while, we’d have a great white show up, but we couldn’t shoot them.”

“We had been sitting there about 30 minutes, and one of the things we do is watch the seagulls that land in the slick. When they start to get off the water, you know something is coming,” Thomason said. “There were only a few birds this time and they were way out, but they started getting up in order. Not five minutes later, Matt yelled, ‘huge mako right at the boat.’”

At first, Thomason thought the captain was joking with him. That’s just before he saw the dark silhouette of a huge shark, followed by the tell-tale sign of a dorsal fin coming out of the water.

“They’ve got to be about three feet from the boat to get the arrow to stick, so we threw a fish on a line and teased him to the boat,” Thomason said. “I try and shoot for the top of the back. As soon as the arrow hit, all hell broke loose. We freaked out because I spined him and we thought he might sink.”

It took the crew just fifteen minutes to land the giant predator. Once locked into the pulley system the boat raced to the shore for an official weight. There it would tip the scales at 809.5 pounds, shattering the former bow fishing record mako by nearly 300 pounds.

Because the entire hunt was captured on film, it will be airing on the television program “Predator Pursuit” sometime in the near future (official airing schedule has not been released).

About mako sharks

Makos are the fastest swimming shark in the world, capable of reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour. Average adults measure 10 feet in length and weigh around 300 pounds. The largest mako ever taken with rod and reel also came off the California coast. In 2013, Jason Johnston caught an 11 foot mako that weighed 1,323 pounds.