Veteran fisherman wrestles great white shark on beach in shocking video

A veteran fisherman has landed the catch of a lifetime after hooking a great white shark off the Massachusetts coast last weekend.

Elliot Sudal, a boat captain who has spent more than a decade fishing the waters around Nantucket, told ABC News the encounter came as a complete surprise.

"Out of 2,000 sharks, I caught one great white. This is the first one. By no means expected this to happen, definitely not", the angler said.

Throughout his career, Mr Sudal has caught and tagged some 2,000 sharks, including sandbar, sand tiger and dusky varieties.

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He was monitoring sharks from the beach when something struck his line, with his teenage apprentice helping to steady the rod during the struggle.

Only once they had hauled in their catch did the pair realise they'd hooked the 8ft long nightmare fuel.

Footage of the encounter shows Mr Sudal sprinting into the water and mounting the great white to remove the hook, prising open the shark's jaws with his bare hands while waves crash around them.

After freeing the creature from the line, the team managed to guide the shark back into deeper water, ensuring its safe return to the ocean.

"This is the most taboo shark. This is endangered. You have to do everything perfect," he told ABC News.

"You have to open the mouth a little bit, get the hook out, and then just do everything you can to get them back safely".

Unlike his usual practice of tagging sharks for tracking purposes or collecting blood samples, the great white demanded a straightforward catch-and-release.

"I'm just really, really glad that it just went smoothly and perfectly," Mr Sudal said, "we were able to get her back and the shark was safe."

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After the fluke catch, Mr Sudal said they were not “targeting that white”, adding: “You can’t control what picks up your bait."

“Shark was in the surf, removed the hook and sent her back to sea in about 15 seconds”, he recalled, "I saw the spotted pectoral fin flash in a wave and just focused."

He said he released the footage of the incredible encounter to show others how to catch monster fish, and urged others to take online courses and to “respect the animal and be safe” when doing the same.

The catch comes amid growing concerns about shark activity along America's eastern coastline, with experts warning of rising ocean temperatures drawing more sharks to the Eastern seaboard.

Increasing numbers are seen to be migrating to unfamiliar hunting grounds, with sightings becoming notably more frequent as a result.

Scientists at Boston's New England Aquarium issued a public warning in May after the season's first white shark was spotted near Martha's Vineyard, while a juvenile was also observed off New York and New Jersey.

Mr Sudal regularly advocates for shark conservation, stressing their vital role in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems.

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