An angler saw his fishing rod snap in two in an hour-long gruelling tussle as he reeled in a monster shark off the southern British coast.
Ray Breton, 53, was fishing alone on his 16ft long boat off the Isle of Wight when the huge Porbeagle Shark – which is related to the Great White – went for his mackerel bait.
The lorry driver by day, started to reel in the 7ft long ‘angry’ shark, but the catch was so big that it took him an hour to get it alongside his boat.
Great White Sharks are often reported seen in the waters off the UK coast but it is believed most of these sightings are Porbeagle Sharks – which are related the species but around half the size.
However Porbeagles are still enormous beasts, reaching over 10ft long and weighing up to 600lbs.
The breed of shark is not normally harmful to humans, although they can cause serious injury – but no deaths have ever been recorded.
Ray’s rod bent almost double before it finally gave way and snaps in two.
He is then drags the fishing line in with his hands, bringing the huge shark along side the boat so he could measure it.
The 300lb beast thrashes and rolls in the water while it Ray tries to keep is steady next to the boat.
The 7ft long fish was far too big to pull aboard and Ray unhooked the shark and released it safe and well afterwards.
Ray, from Gosport, Hants, said: ‘It was epic and feisty. After about an hour I got it alongside the boat.
‘Then my rod snapped so I had no choice but to grab hold of the wire leader line and get it to the boat.
‘It was at least 300lbs.
‘I have caught a few sharks before but this one seemed angrier than usual. I was really pleased but was aching for a while afterwards.’
The video clip ends with Ray holding a pair of bolt cutters, which are necessary to cut a fishing line capable of withstanding the force of a shark.
Porbeagle Sharks are known game fish in the UK and Ireland, but are classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered in the north-east Atlantic ocean.
They are caught both intentionally and unintentionally as by-catch by commercial fishermen.
The largest shark caught in UK waters was a 14ft thresher shark weighing more than 550lbs, off the Isle of Wight in 2013.
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