800-pound shark caught off coast of Marina del Rey

The fish was so big, it was too heavy for the scales. It was so big, in fact, that it couldn't be hauled aboard the boat and had to be dragged into the dock by the tail.

So says Craig Campbell, general manager of Del Rey Landing, who watched as a group of fishermen hauled in a mako shark they caught about 15 miles off the coast of Marina del Rey on Monday. The fish — believed to be a shortfin mako, according to KTLA — topped the landing's 750-pound scales, leading Campbell and others to believe it weighed between 800 and 900 pounds.

"We haven't seen sharks like that around here for a couple years," Campbell said Wednesday. "It was a pretty big fish."

At least six men helped lift the shark from the water onto the dock, Campbell said. The men who caught the shark are regular bait customers but Campbell said he didn't know them well.

Fishing is good right now, Campbell said, halibut especially. He called the monster catch a good sign.

"The big fish are out there and coming in a little closer," he said.

It's also the talk of the dock.

"It used to be a fairly common occurrence," he said. "But everyone's talking about it."

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— Kate Mather
twitter.com/katemather