ASBURY PARK PRESS
A 300-pound, 8-foot-long Mako shark jumped into the small fishing boat of Tom Rostron Jr. and Clint Simek in Manasquan, N.J. The fish are known for jumping out of the water but not into boats.
This fish story is a bit different. For these New Jersey men, the fish — shark, rather — came to them.
Tom Rostron Jr. and Clint Simek took down a 300-pound Mako shark after the massive fish, more than 8-feet long, jumped into their boat. The men were 30 miles off the Jersey Shore baiting lines when they spotted a shark fin circling their vessel.
ASBURY PARK PRESS
The big beast caused $5,000 in damage to the men’s boat.
“We look up, and the balloon is coming at us, like a scene out of ‘Jaws,’” Rostron told the Asbury Park Press. “I look up, and the thing just does a 15-foot somersault, just flew out of the water” and landed in the boat.
The easy part over, the men then had to corral the enraged shark, which flopped around, biting and fighting as it flailed in unfamiliar territory.
The men, too, had to improvise their battle plan for a fight onboard their 31-foot-long sport fishing boat instead of in water. They used a broomstick, gaffs and ropes to try to quell the beast.
ASBURY PARK PRESS
“I look up, and the thing just does a 15-foot somersault, just flew out of the water” and landed in the boat, Rostron, left, told the Asbury Park Press.
It took two hours to kill the huge shark, which caused about $5,000 in damage.
“Normally when you fight a shark you bring it alongside the boat and harpoon it, or gaff it,” Rostrontold the Press. “Then you put a tail rope on it and shoot it in the head with a bang stick.”
