Such was the case when 13-year-old Gianni Mandile caught a 7-foot, 200-pound doozy of a shark on the Jersey Shore.
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Talk about reeling in the big one!
“We thought it was some type of a stingray”, Mandile told ABC News. Dr. Ken Able, director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, said in a June interview with NJTV more sharks are heading north this year as oceans have warmed over the last few years. “As the wave curled, he saw the silhouette of the shark in the wave and he said, ‘Dad it’s big, it’s a big shark!'”
After he caught it, Gianni and his dad wrestled the shark to the beach (which seems unsafe to me, but hey), took a few photos, and then released it back into the wilds of the sea.
Mandile helped Gianni, who has been fishing since the age of 3, by going into the water and helping to pull the shark in. “It’s a big catch for [Gianni] and I’m proud of him”.
His father managed to pull the shark up on the beach, as seen in video of the catch.
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Mandile said he was more excited about Gianni’s accomplishment than Gianni himself, whom he described as “always calm, cool and collected”. “It’s big! It’s a shark!'” The shark swam away from shore as quickly as possible, while father and son look forward to their next big catch.
