'Knew it was something big': Family in shock after seeing what they caught on Florida fishing trip
LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA: A family's fishing trip turned into a heart-pounding adventure when they unexpectedly caught a great white shark off the coast of Florida. The North Dakota residents were on vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida when they joined Good Hit Sport Fishing on a shark fishing excursion and came across the most dreadful shark of them all. Despite the shock and awe of the rare sighting, the family managed to capture the incredible moment on camera.
In a mobile phone video that was shared by WSPN, a boy can be heard screaming, "Best day ever" as a massive shark can be seen trailing behind the boat. One of the family members, Shaun Jacobson, told the outlet "All of a sudden, when it hit the one rod, it just hit it and it took off," "So we knew it was something big," he added.
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'We named it Cofax Crusher'
It took all three men on board to reel in the large shark. “We were alternating turns left and right, probably, what, 20-30 cranks, and then the next guy was on,” said Jacobson. Adam Reckert, the captain of the boat and owner of Good Hit Sportfishing, claimed that such catches were incredibly uncommon in South Florida. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years full-time as a captain, and that’s the second [great white] that I’ve landed,” he said. “The last one was about 15 years ago.” With that in mind, everyone on board documented this experience with a few photos and films, and before letting the big fish go, the kids gave him a catchy name to remember him by. “We named it Cofax Crusher,” one of the boys said. They released the shark after tagging it, as is customary, according to Good Hit Sportfishing.
Florida: The shark attack hotspot
Although Florida is the US's shark attack hotspot, attacks still happen relatively seldom. Florida saw 16 shark attacks without warning in 2022, accounting for 39% of all shark attacks in the United States and 28% of all unprovoked attacks globally. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), run by the Florida Museum of Natural History, reports that five individuals were claimed to have died from shark attacks globally in 2022, despite the fact that none of the assaults in Florida were deadly.
Great whites are listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Over the last few hundred years, population growth is estimated to have decreased by between 30 and 49 percent. The three main risks are chemical pollution, plastic pollution, and overfishing — both intentional and via bycatch in the fishing gear that's meant to catch other species — Newsweek reported.