An estate agent was left shocked when after an hour’s fight, he managed to land this enormous shark.

Father-of-one Simon Putman, of Temple Way, Maldon, believes the big blue is among the heaviest caught off the UK coastline.

He hauled in the whopper while on a week-long annual fishing trip with friends on Bite Adventures with experienced skipper Robin ‘Chippy’ Chapman.

The friends spent the first couple of days fishing the shallow waters out of Penzance for smaller fish before heading to the deep, hoping to hook sharks.

Speaking of his prize catch, Mr Putman, who works at the Burnham branch of Church and Hawes, said: “It picked up the bite, dropped it and then picked it up again and ran off with it.

“It was a real fight to bring it in. We actually thought ‘how are we going to get it on board’."

Caught on a light 4 to 8oz Abu up tide rod, the 8ft 5in long fish had a 39in girth with a calculated weight of 87kg or 13 stone.

 

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