Thirteen-year-old Caroline Waterman of Key Largo, Fla., earned top honors for the second consecutive year in the Key West Fishing Tournament kickoff with a catch that may be certified a world record.

Waterman won the tournament's junior division and the division's heaviest catch award for reeling in a 97-pound hammerhead shark. The catch is being submitted to the International Game Fish Association as a potential junior angler world record.

Waterman fished on the Bait Stealer with Captain Dale Bittner, who guided her to the junior division win in the 2007 tournament. Bittner said the two of them were targeting sharks west of the Marquesas when they spotted the hammerhead.

"He was just as hot as can be -- we watched him eat her bait and she started fighting him," said Bittner, who added that the fight took about 25 minutes. Bittner said young Waterman also released a sandbar shark, whose weight he estimated at 125 or 130 pounds, during the tournament.

As well as Caroline Waterman, several other teenagers earned top honors in the tournament whose rules allow young anglers to fish against adults. Among them was Key West resident Joe Merritt, 15, who scored a double triumph with the heaviest grouper at 43 pounds and the heaviest kingfish at 31 pounds 4 ounces. He fished on the Perro Loco with Captain Greg Sherertz, who was named the tournament's top captain.

Fourteen-year-old Turner Dowling released 32 barracuda during the tournament's two fishing days. The Key West teen took top honors for the most barracuda releases, fishing with his father Ed Dowling aboard the Turner's Whaler.

Honors for adult anglers included the heaviest cobia award to George Aleksandrowicz of River Head, N.Y., who caught a 58.5-pound monster while fishing on the White Cap with Captain Mario Perez.

Fish caught during the kickoff also qualify for trophies in the Key West Fishing Tournament, which runs through Nov. 30, 2008, and is open to the general public. More than 40 species of fish are targeted during the multimonth event, with fishing divisions for men, women, junior anglers (ages 10 to 14 years) and Pee Wees (under 10 years old).

The Key West Fishing Tournament also includes a swordfish tournament scheduled for Saturday, June 14.