A 303-pound, 8-foot, 4-inch mako shark jumped onto a fishing boat off the coast of New Jersey, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Three men were on board the 31-foot boat at the time. They had been catching and releasing blue sharks all day. The winds calmed down so the group fished an area just outside of the Manasquan River, near the state’s central coast, the report said.
The shark took the line on the boat's deep line, the report said. Moments later, the shark shot 15 feet into the air several times, and eventually landed in the boat.
"It was epic. He back-flipped right in," Clint Simek, one of the fishermen, told the paper.
Capt. Tom Rostron, Jr., told the paper that the shark was violently thrashing and eating broom sticks and speakers in the front of the boat. The men feared the shark would come at them, Rostron told the paper.
"We stood in the back for a half hour before I gaffed it and Clint tied the tail. Then we wedged it into the side of the boat."
Roston told WTSP.com that the damage to his boat will cost $5,000 to fix.
"I would like to leave the teeth marks in, like a badge of honor," he said. "But the floor marks have to be fixed or water will leak through. They have to be filled and fiberglass has to be re-applied."
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