FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A woman managed to hook a massive sawfish off the coast of Southwest Florida.
Jillian Sanders reeled in a sawfish along Fort Myers Beach as a crowd of onlookers gathered around her.
“Well, I knew it was going to be something pretty decent, because it went all the way out to the Gulf,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was going to be a sawfish.”
Sanders decided to cast her line along the water at sunset on the off chance she might bring in something big.
“I was like, let me just throw some bait out there. I was hoping to catch a tarpon, because they’re number one in Fort Myers Beach Tarpon Club right now,” said Sanders.
She got the bite and started reeling it in.
Night quickly fell, and after about an hour of battling the sawfish, the shadow started to emerge from the water.
Once Sanders was able to get close to the fish, a careful quick snip released the rare find.
The sawfish was on its way and was able to give Sanders a story she’s happy to take home.
“I’ve never really known a crowd before. It kind of gave me more of the adrenaline to keep going, because I wanted to give up,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Sanders has caught a sawfish, which is pretty rare. She said a year and a half ago, she also reeled one in.
While this new catch took about an hour to get to shore, her previous encounter took more than three hours before she was able to set it free.
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