Family on holiday left stunned after fishing trip sees them reel in a great white shark

A family has been left stunned on their holiday after a fishing trip saw them reel in a great white shark. Now that's a catch...

Campbell Keenan, 12, was out angling with his family in Fort Lauderdale when he reeled in a staggering 11-foot great white shark.

Keenan, from Massachusetts, was assisted by boat captains David Jackson and Paul Paolucci when he caught a female white shark which weighed over 200kg and measured 130 inches.

The family booked the adventure fishing trip with Good Hit Sportfishing and boarded 'New Lattitude' on January 17 when they caught the video on a mobile phone.

Keenan told WSVN- TV that he feels 'accomplished' and that it was his 'best day ever' after he reeled in the massive shark.

He said: "I mean, the biggest fish that I ever caught.

“Before this, it was a 25-inch striper. This is a 130-inch great white shark.”

WSVN

Colleen Keenan - the mother of Keenan, who also accompanied them on the boat trip - said that the men had to hold on to her son to make sure he wasn't pulled off the boat.

She said: “He had to hold on to the reel and he was strapped in but not really, so that was scary."

Colleen also confirmed her son loves to fish and everyone went 'through the roof' once they found out it was a great white.

She added: “Once we found out it was a great white, we went through the roof."

Shaun Jacobson, one of the members, told WSVN that they knew they'd hit 'something big'.

WSVN

He said: “All of a sudden, when it hit the one rod, it just hit it and it took off, so we knew it was something big.”

Shaun said they were alternating turns when it took 'three men 40 minutes to reel in the great white'.

He added: "We were alternating turns left and right, probably, what, 20-30 cranks, and then the next guy was on."

Before releasing it back into the waters, which is the standard protocol, the boys snapped a couple of pictures and videos and tagged the white shark with the name 'Cofax Crusher'.

Capt. Adam Reckert, who has been doing the job full-time as a captain for 20 years, said the capture was quite special and rare.

He said: “I’ve been doing this for 20 years full-time as a captain, and that’s the second one that I’ve landed. The last one was about 15 years ago.”