A Pompano Beach boat called the Reaper had landed probably this year’s first swordfish on the night of Jan. 1. There was nothing strange about the catch, except that a huge mako shark grabbed a second bait, a live tinker mackerel, only minutes later at about midnight.

Turns out they had foul-hooked a 10-foot mako shark in a pectoral fin. The shark dumped an 80-pound outfit, taking 950 yards of line. A second reel was installed, the crew took turns with the rod for hours, and at 4:30 a.m. they landed the 755-pound shark. They spent another hour trying to get the shark in the boat, couldn’t quite do it, so they finally towed it into Marina One at 9 a.m. that morning.

They were a tired but jubilant crew, made up of Capt. Cory Burlew, his fiancée Sue Royal, Vic Sirbola and Mike Carne. Congratulations, looks like you guys so far are the top boat crew for 2006.

FS