12-year-old on Florida charter boat reels in a great white shark
The Massachusetts boy describes the tense moments when he realized what he was reeling in during a fishing trip in Florida.
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Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old Massachusetts boy on a charter fishing boat in Florida reeled in an unexpected catch of the day -- a 450-pound great white shark.
Campbell Keenan, a Boston boy visiting Fort Lauderdale with his family, was fishing aboard Capt. Paul Paolucci's charter boat off the coast of the state when he hooked something big.
"We had to hold onto him. We had to make sure he wasn't going to go off the boat," mother Colleen Keenan told WSVN-TV.
The boat's crew soon realized the 12-year-old had a great white shark on the end of his line.
"We realized it was a shark when it was like 20 feet away, probably, and we had to get it in. We put this, like, buoy on it to make it not go under," Campbell Keenan told ABC News.
The boat's crew helped the boy struggle with the monster fish.
"It took awhile. It took 45 minutes or an hour to catch it," Paolucci said. "We knew we had something pretty substantial from the initial bite it took about 300 yards out."
The captain removed the hook and tagged the shark so it could be tracked by researchers.
Paolucci said the shark was 130 inches long, about 450 pounds "and an absolutely beautiful female."
Campbell, an avid angler, said it was his largest-ever catch.
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