How to Fillet a 200 lb. Shark

Warning: This Article is Very Graphic

An experienced Naples angler caught a 200 pound Nurse Shark offshore on a reef 3 miles off Keeweydin Island on 3/27/11. It took this angler a remarkable half hour to land the shark. This shark weighed in at 200 lbs. 5 feet long, the current record is 5 feet 263 lbs.

Inside of Sharks mouth showing teeth and hook Washing trash barrel used to weigh the shark Picture of the kids looking over the cut fish

The Nurse Shark does not have very big teeth and the hook is still in his mouth. Look at the hook he used to catch this shark. The angler had a small mackerel on the large hook he has in the palm of his hand.

The shark was out of the water for almost 4 hours before it finally died. When we showed up to witness the filleting he warned us that it may not yet be gone, we stayed clear as he made the first cut down it's back.

In order to weigh this shark at his dock he had to recruit a few friends to put the shark in a plastic garbage barrel and put the barrel on a household scale.

The kids showed up and had a ball. After the angler cut out the fillets he wanted, the kids took over and conducted a science project and inspected the internal organs of the shark. One kid cut the stomach open and squeezed, a partially digested fish popped out! The huge liver is shown in the pictures with a blue colored organ at the end of it.

Fish Cleaning station with chum grinder attached Shark fillets showing how big Shark on edge of boat

Notice the fish cleaning station on this anglers dock, he has it all going on here. His cleaning station has a PVC pipe setup attached to a hose that runs water over the cleaning station through holes drilled in the pipe?automatic washing of the meat as you fillet. There is also a large stainless steel chum grinder on the fish cleaning station that I used to make chum the week before. If it wasn't late at night I would have ground up some of the carcass for fish chum.

Personally I did not like the shark meat, it was very chewy but tasty. I was told if you soak it in milk overnight it will become tender. The Nurse Shark meat was a beautiful creamy white with reddish spots on the skin attached to it that is cut off giving you a beautiful fillet. To freeze, cover with water.

Filleting a shark on your boat gives new meaning to the term Bloody Decks! The shark blood and scraps going into the water were chumming the water! After the shark was fillet, the carcase was thrown overboard into the bay and it was still very heavy. Even before this time fish showed up in droves from the blood dripping into the water-Blood Fish Chum. The kids went fishing after and had a ball catching one fish after the other.

For more information on Nurse Sharks see our Species-Saltwater-Sharks section.

The following is a pictorial account of the filleting of this shark. To see the pictures better, Zoom In your browser window.

Shark on bow of boat Shark with Anglers showing length Shark on bow of boat with people coming to watch

First slice with a knife down the sharks back After first cut the insides are revealed Second cut into the shark going down the side next to the first cut

Cuts all the way back to the tail revealing the liver Long view of the half the sharks body filleted away from the middle Image showing the liver falling out of the half cut open shark with a knife on the liver

Closeup of the second side getting the first slice down the spine Slice all the way down spine revealing white meat and a redish collor spotted spine Picture of the kids feet on the sharks fin and the body now cut both sides

Kid now has his hands on the sharks inards Image showing the right side now comming off the carcus Long view of the shark with both sides gone and 3 guy observing their handywork

Showing last fillet coming off Closeup showing fillet taken out of the carcass Closeup of the guts hanging out

Showing fillet being cut away from the rib cage Closeup of a kid cutting off a fillet Head of shark and body now with only the organs left

Very close view of the insides Knife in kids hand ready to cut the stomach Closeup of the stomach just cut open with 4 golf ball sized white balls on top

Closeup of blue colored stomach contents Close up of the guts being squeezed out A mackerel pops out of the stomach

Closeup of the partial markerel Image of the bloody decks and one kid with his feet up Over view of the carcus now stripped except for it's organs and a kid with his hands inside wondering what to investigate next

View of kid with a knife looking to cut the sharks tail Image of angler picking up the carcas Moving carcass around the corner

Carcass on the back on boat Man holding the sharks top body Angler smiling over shark

Pulling shark up to edge of transom Fish at edge of transom with light showing form bottom of boat Shark head now over water ready to drop in

Fish goes into water Cleanup after the shark is gone Fish in water after carcass dropped

Whole shark fillet showing size next to a bait bucket; it is about 3 feet long Closeup of shark fillet being sliced into Shark fillet now cut open in half

Closeup of the fillet showing white meat and how thick it is Cleaning table full of shark fillets Fillets on table

Table full of shark fillets Large white shark fillet with 2 fillets cut ready for bagging Fillets of shark in zip lock bags

Watch this video to see what a large Nurse Shark looks like swimming thru a reef.

Editors Note:

At Florida Go Fishing we encourage Catch and Release Fishing to save our declining fish stocks. Please do not remove from the water large species like Nurse Shark unless you plan on filleting and eating the fish. We included the above pictorial account of the filleting of this magnificent shark for educational purposes, first and foremost, to show anglers what is involved in filleting a large fish and hopefully encourage anglers to release them.