Johnny Garner, 15, of Ingleside reeled in a 227 pound bull shark about 55 miles off Port Aransas on Friday, Jan. 25. He went fishing for his birthday, which was Jan. 22. Johnny set a junior state bull shark record by 183 pounds. Courtesy photo
Birthday wishes do come true, at least for one 15-year-old boy, as he set what is believed to be a new junior state record for bull shark catches.
Johnny Garner, a former Port Aransas ISD student who now lives in Ingleside and goes to school there, went shark fishing off Port Aransas for his birthday, which was Jan. 22, along with his dad, Timmy Oestreich, a Port Aransas fishing captain, who has made many notable shark catches over the years.
As for Johnny, he’s caught smaller Atlantic sharpnose shark before, but he’s never caught anything like the bull shark he reeled in on Friday, Jan. 25, according to his mother, Gena Oestreich, a Port Aransas Police Department officer.
Johnny and Timmy were fishing about 55 miles off Port Aransas.
Once he hooked the shark, it gave Johnny a good fight for about 25 minutes, he said.
“It was tough, but extremely fun,” Johnny said. “I enjoyed just being able to get to pull in the shark.”
The bull shark weighed 227 pounds, Gena said. Johnny filed paperwork with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to declare the catch as a new junior state record in its category.
Prior to Johnny’s catch, the previous junior state record for a bull shark was held by Dylan Sorrells. Dylan caught a 44.5-pound bull shark in Galveston Bay on Nov. 3, 2018, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) junior angler records.
The largest bull shark caught in Texas, by an angler of any age, to date was a 515-pounder that was reeled by Randall Rickerson in on May 18, 2007, in Aransas Bay, according to TPWD.
Johnny hopes to make more shark catches in the future, but first he wants to submit additional paperwork to see if his bull shark catch possibly could be declared a junior world record, Gena said.
As for hauling in the 227-pounder, Johnny said, “The whole experience was thrilling!”
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