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Video Shows Surprise Catch: Huge Great White Shark Released off the Beach at Fort Lauderdale

Only after a two-hour battle did astonished crew and anglers realize what they’d hooked.
white shark

This massive white shark was released about a mile off Fort Lauderdale.

Courtesy Capt. Paul Paolucci

Simply spotting a large great white shark near south Florida’s coast is news; hooking, fighting and releasing one qualifies as a once-in-a-lifetime event.

When something nailed a butterflied bonito on a kite line from the charter boat Hooked Up, Tuesday morning, April 9, the crew guessed it was a large shark. But, Capt. Taco Perez told outdoors editor Steve Waters in a South Florida Sun Sentinel report, only when the fish was finally at the boat some two hours later did the crew and four anglers see that they’d caught a 13 ½-foot great white, estimated to weigh nearly 1,000 pounds.

The catch was made in 180 feet of water, just over a mile off the beach.

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This article was updated April 11, 2013 to include video footage.

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