A 12-year-old boy scored the catch of a lifetime after he hooked a massive 11-foot, 500-pound great white shark while on a chartered fishing trip.
Campbell Keenan and his mother, Colleen, were on the small fishing boat about a mile off the Fort Lauderdale coast when he felt a tug on his line on Tuesday.
Almost immediately, Campbell found himself barely able to stay in his seat on the boat's deck as the hooked fish thrashed back and forth.
The brave kid held on tight, and after a noble fight, an 500lb great white tired, and came alongside the boat.
'It was just like, oh my god, it’s a great white shark!' he told the Sun Sentinel.
Campbell described the wrestle with the great white as 'scary', and he feared he would be dragged from his chair by the 500lb shark
After a 20 minute struggle with the shark, it eventually gave up and swam close to the boat
Finally, with help from the crew, the 12 year-old managed to reel in the huge catch, and it swam calmly beside the boat as his mother took clips
The young fisherman and his family were staying in town for his sister's hockey tournament when his mom decided to book him a chartered fishing trip as a treat.
Once they'd reached water about 120 feet deep, Captain Paul Paolucci set up the biggest rod and reel on the boat and dropped a dead four-pound blackfin tuna to the ocean floor.
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ShareThe goal, according to Paolucci, was 'anything big' - an aspiration that the middle schooler passed with flying colors.
From the offset, the bait was considerably larger than anything Campbell, who usually used an 18-inch largemouth bass, had fished with before.
'It had a huge hook,' he told the Sentinel.
After about 20 minutes of patient waiting, the line got a bite. Chaos ensued.
'It just took off, like 300 yards,' said Keenan, who had planted himself in a fighting chair. 'I was like, "Oh dang, is this a shark, is this a sailfish?" Because I’ve never fought anything remotely as big as this.'
Campbell, his mother Colleen, and sister were in Fort Lauderdale for his sister's hockey tournament
The fight was exhausting - like doing baseball drills in the sun without any water, Campbell described.
Reinforcement came from his mother, Colleen, who devotedly fed him bottle after bottle of Gatorade.
Eventually, Campbell had reeled in his massive catch enough to see a flash of color in the water below - a huge flash of color.
Keenan was terrified as the catch - quite clearly not a sailfish - continued to thrash against the line, fearing one more yank against the reel could drag both him and the rod into the water.
Eventually, Campbell, with a bit of help, managed to reel the monstrous fish in. Finally fatigued from its battle, the shark swam docilely along beside the boat.
The boy's first impression of his shocking catch: 'So cool'.
The middle schooler hopes his impressive catch will bring him 'bragging rights' at school - even though he had to release the endangered fish back into the ocean
In all his 20 years of professional fishing experience off of the coast of South Florida, Captain Paolucci says he's only hooked three white sharks.
He and his crew measured Campbell's catch and tagged it for Nova Southeastern University.
They then cut the line close to the hook - which is designed to catch in the corner of the fish's mouth, and eventually disintegrate - and released it back into the ocean.
Great whites are a protected species, and must be released immediately once caught.
Trophy or no, Campbell is still pretty pleased with the photos and videos documenting his catch.
'It felt great to land it.” he told the Sun Sentinel. 'It gives me bragging rights in class.'
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