A group of daring fishermen battled a deadly shark off the coast of Huntington Beach for two hours on Monday - eventually reeling in what might be a world record catch.
The fishermen were led by Jason Johnston, from Mesquite, Texas and they encountered the shortfin mako about 15 miles off the shore of California as they were angling for smaller sharks.
The largest shortfin mako shark caught by line recorded before this weighed 1,115 pounds, so Johnston and his friends are waiting for independent verification before they can comfortably claim the title.
Using over a quarter-mile of line to reel in the shark, the 12 feet long, 8 foot in girth fish was described by one of Johnston's partners as '1323lbs of nightmare'.
'It’s unreal. This thing is definitely a killing machine,
The largest "mako" taken on hook and line worldwide was 505.76 kg (1115 lbs) - this shark reportedly weighs 1,323 pounds
