PARADISE, N.L. — A Newfoundland man who hooked a two-metre shark while out catching cod says he never had time to be scared.
Jim Mansfield was fishing off New Melbourne in Trinity Bay early Saturday when he snagged what he thought was the bottom.
A few great tugs from below led to a 20-minute struggle as he and a buddy worked to free what turned out to be a porbeagle shark.
The species is related to larger great whites and can reach up to 2.5 metres in length and 135 kilograms.
Almost as excited as Mansfield was marine biologist Carolyn Miri of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in St. John's.
The department doesn't have funding for a delegated inshore survey and is asking anyone who sees or catches sharks to contact her.