Hammerhead shark spotted at Fort Pickens

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (WEAR) — A hungry hammerhead shark made its way to Pensacola Beach on Saturday.

The photos above are from Tyler Nims.

Nims said that he was fishing on the shore of Fort Pickens when the 12-foot-6-inch shark took a bite of the dead Bonita fish on the reel that was cast out at about 150 yards.

Nims and a friend, Dave Pennington, helped one another reel the shark in because of how large it was. Nims added that they fought the shark for about an hour and ended up a mile down the beach from where they first started.

"I knew it was big, but had no idea how it was that big," Nims told Channel Three News.

After reeling in the shark and quickly snapping a few pictures, Nims said they unhooked the shark and safely released it back into the water.

Nims told us that catching a hammerhead shark was always on his bucket list.

Around 6:00 Saturday, green and purple flags were flying at the beach. Green flags represent generally calm surf and currents. Purple flags are flown when potentially dangerous marine life are present.

By 10:00 Saturday night the purple flags were taken down.