Video captures fisherman landing great white shark off Nantucket: "I was hugging it"

A fisherman who has spent years catching, tagging and researching sharks off of Nantucket, Massachusetts, got the surprise of a lifetime Sunday when video captured him reeling in his first great white shark. 

"I was excited and stressed," the fisherman, Elliot Sudal, said. He told WBZ-TV the shark was between eight and a half and nine feet long and weighed around 300 pounds.

"I mean, it was just crazy," he said. "I was hugging it."

Although Sudal said he has extensive experience handling sharks, he described the moment as surreal.

"On Nantucket specifically, I have caught over 1,000 sandbar, brown sharks and then hundreds of dusky sharks," he said. "That was the first great white."

Because great white sharks are a protected species, Sudal said his focus quickly shifted from the excitement of the catch to safely returning the animal back to the ocean.  

"It's cool, but it's a responsibility," he said. "There's 50 people with cameras around and it is a protected species, and they are endangered." 

With help from his crew, Sudal said the shark was unhooked and released into the water in about 15 seconds.

"You can't pick what picks up your bait," he said. "Yes, this happened, and I felt like I handled the situation correctly."