FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A family on a vacation in South Florida expected to catch a big fish, but they were genuinely surprised by what they reeled in off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.
“What do you think?” asked a man on cellphone video that captured a great white shark drifting on a fishing line alongside their boat.
“Best day ever!” said a boy.
The best day ever is how this little guy is describing this incredible fishing adventure.
He and his family were out on the waters in Fort Lauderdale when they nabbed the great white.
“There he is, hundred by 50,” a man said on the video.
The family, who are from North Dakota, said they came to South Florida for an exciting fishing trip, so they booked a shark fishing adventure with Good Hit Sportfishing, but they had no idea how eventful the trip would become.
While in the fight to catch another fish, one of the men said they felt a great tug on their fishing line.
“All of a sudden, when it hit the one rod, it just hit it and it took off,” said Shaun Jacobson, “so we knew it was something big.”
The shark was so big, it took all three men aboard to reel the big guy in.
“We were alternating turns left and right, probably, what, 20-30 cranks, and then the next guy was on,” said Jacobson.
After about 40 minutes of tugging and pulling, the men were finally able to reel the big guy in, and a catch like this is extremely rare in South Florida.
In fact, it wasn’t until they saw the reaction from the boat captain that they knew how special the capture was.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years full-time as a captain,” said Capt. Adam Reckert, “and that’s the second one that I’ve landed. The last one was about 15 years ago.”
With that in mind, everyone on board decided to keep this memory forever by snapping a couple pictures and videos, and before letting him go, the kids decided to give the large fish a cool name to remember him by.
“We named it Cofax Crusher,” said one of the boys.
After they tagged the shark, they set it free, which Good Hit Sportfishing said is standard protocol.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.