People: Aug. 18, 1986

It was all there but the heart-pounding, thum-pa, thum-pa music. Last week a Long Island shark fisherman who served as the model for the grizzled Quint in Jaws helped a young charter-boat captain land the largest great white shark ever taken on a sporting rod and reel. Frank Mundus, 60, and Donnie Braddick, 30, had spotted a group of great whites feeding on the carcass of a whale about 25 miles south of Montauk, N.Y., and mobilized for battle. But the monster did not immediately abandon the whale in favor of the crew's whiting , and butterfish bait. "We were offering him a lollipop when he had the whole candy store," says Mundus. He turned the task of landing the shark over to Braddick because "I ain't no spring chicken"; after a two-hour struggle, the fish gave up. The next day thousands of locals and tourists crowded the Montauk marina to see the shark, which weighed 3,450 lbs., 800 lbs. heavier than the International Game Fish Association champ, caught off Australia in 1959. Braddick's brute may not qualify for the record books, however. The 150- lb. test line he used exceeds the allowed strength.