On July 30, Canadian angler Rick Austin was fishing for striped bass off the coast of Nova Scotia when he hooked something huge. He wasn't quite sure what exactly it was. But lucky for him (and the rest of the internet) he recorded the impressive struggle with what he thought was a massive fish, or possibly a porpoise.
After posting the video to a Nova Scotia fishing group Facebook page, the community was quick to impart some knowledge on him: Austin had an 8-foot-long great white shark at the end of the line—a shark that could have easily capsized his fishing kayak leaving him floundering in the open bay.
In the video, we can see Austin battling it out with a fish in the water of Minas Basin, a small bay off of the Bay of Funky. It was pulling hard on the line, doubling over his fishing rod.
You can hear Austin say, "I got something' on, and she's pretty big." He gets some slack in the line, and starts reeling the massive fish back in, attempting to bring it up the to kayak.
As he reels it in, he sees the behemoth fish with fins swim under his kayak. Surprised he says, "JESUS CHRIST! What the f*ck was that?"
The shark takes the opportunity to make a run for it before jumping out of the water. The shark arches back down as it crashes below the surface.
Austin yells, "OH JESUS!" His kayak spins with pressure on the line. At that point he is convinced he has a porpoise on the line. Porpoises are protected in Canada, so he makes the obvious decision to cut it loose. Little did he know it was a good decision for other reasons. Landing the shark could have proved to be a deadly endeavor.
After his exciting (borderline traumatic) day on the water, Austin posted the video to his local fishing group, asking if anyone knew what the large fish was. It wasn't too long before two biologists got back to him with the answer, one from the New England Aquarium, and the other from Ontario's University of Guelph.
Both biologists were certain that the large animal was not a porpoise—and instead was a great white shark.
The shark is believed to be somewhere between six to eight feet, weighing around 250 pounds. Great white sharks are known to frequent the waters off Nova Scotia.
When he heard what he really had on the line, Austin commented on the post, "I'm actually glad I didn't know what it really was or I may have soiled myself."
READ MORE: Looking Back on the 3,000-Pound Great White Shark Caught Off Hilton Head Island
