A Tampa teenager caught the same fish twice, causing conservationists to step in to save the endangered species.
Outside the city of Tampa, there’s a spot locals know as Bishop Harbor Pond.
“Me and my grandpa used to come here a lot,” said fisherman Kane Mcree. “It’s the honey hole.”
Mcree, 16, said he fishes the pond often.
In early June, Mcree was fishing on a paddleboard when he got a bite during the Fire Charity Fishing Tournament.
“I was hoping it was a snook or something,” said Mcree.
After 15 minutes struggling with his reel, he discovered it was more than a snook.
“The saw that came out of the water,” said Mcree. “I saw probably the four-foot saw come out of the water.”
Kane caught a Smalltooth Sawfish.
After documenting it for the tournament, he let it go, but a week later, he had another bite on his line.
“I come back and catch it again,” said Mcree.
The teenager figured a nearby culvert with grates was likely preventing the sawfish from swimming out of the area.
“I started to think maybe it was stuck,” said Mcree.
He remembered a freebie he received from the fishing tournament, a keychain with the number to the US Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Team
“The keychain that said the Sawfish number and I called,” said Mcree.
The call went to team leader and president of Havenworth Coastal Conservation Tonya Wiley.
“We are very worried about the population of Smalltooth Sawfish and their ability to fend off extinction,” said Wiley.
Sawfish are endangered and face a number of threats from getting caught in fishing gear, to loss of habitat and the recent spinning fish phenomenon reported in South Florida, resulting in more than 60 confirmed deaths.
“It was very important for us to not give up, to make sure we got that sawfish relocated,” said Wiley. “It was critical that we relocate this individual to ensure it chance of survival.”
After three separate tries using underwater cameras and drones, the team — joined by several agencies — captured the 4 foot female Sawfish in the far corner of the pond, last week.
“We loaded it into a stretcher that had water on it. It took 8 of us to walk her across the street and then we brought her over here, took all of the measurements and put the tags on her,” said Wiley.
Agencies can only guess the reason the Sawfish was in the pond.
“This sawfish likely got into the pond when Bishop Harbor Road was underwater during Hurricane Helene and was then unable to get into open water because of the grating over the open culvert,” said Wiley.
The conservation team released the sawfish with the hope of learning more from samples taken, showing gratitude to the young fisherman.
“Kane is the reason why this Sawfish is now in open water,” said Wiley.
This is the seventh Sawfish that Havenworth has caught and released.