Shark jumps in boat, stuns New Jersey anglers

Dan Radel | Asbury (N.J.) Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption 300 lb. shark jumps into fishing boat Tom Roston Jr. and Clint Simek freaked out after a 300 lb., 8'4" Mako shark jumped into their small fishing boat while they were shark fishing off the New Jersey shore.

Average mako shark is 10 feet long%2C 130 to 300 pounds%2C Florida Museum of Natural History says

They are the fastest shark species and can leap 30 feet into the air

In the Atlantic%2C they can be found from Newfoundland to Brazil

MANASQUAN, N.J. — Two anglers shark fishing east of Manasquan Inlet got a surprise when a 303-pound, 8-foot, 4-inch mako shark leapt into the bow of their 31-foot boat.

Then it proceeded to eat the boat.

"It was epic. He back flipped right in," said Clint Simek of Brielle, N.J., who still sounded stunned with the shark's theatrics as he retold the story a day after the wild encounter.

Simek along with Capt. Tom Rostron Jr. of Wall, N.J., were on Rostron's boat, the TNT, on Tuesday. It was just the two of them in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles south of New York City.

"It's real early in the season for sharks. Usually, you don't go shark fishing with only two guys in a boat," said Rostron, who was equally in awe when he spoke. "But Clint and I wanted to pre-fish the tournaments. We had no intentions of boating the biggest fish we ever have."

They were scouting for three mako fishing tournaments out of the Manasquan River that are happening later this month.

In hindsight, Rostron said they were lucky a third person was not on board: Chances are the shark would have killed one of them.

The two had just motored south, leaving an area where they caught and released 14 blue sharks. The day began with 6-foot swells on the ocean, but by the afternoon the wind had died. When they made their move, the water was flat and there was no drift.

Shortly after they set up their bait, they got a visit.

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"At 3:30, this big thing comes into the slick," Simek said.

Rostron said the fish swam by the side of the boat and starting getting aggressive, eating all the balloons that marked their baits.

"We were trying to feed bait to him. I reeled up our deep rod and felt him eat the bait," Rostron said. "As soon as he felt the hook, he shot 15 feet in the air."

Known for jumping, this mako would make five jumps in total. On the fourth leap, it landed two feet from the starboard bow and sprayed both anglers with water.

Then it circled under the boat, returned on the port side, rushed out of the water and landed in the boat.

"At first we were in shock when he was in the boat. Then he started thrashing and we were like 'Oh My God, we have a big problem. This thing is going to eat us,' " Rostron said.

From the time the shark was hooked to the time it jumped in the boat was 25 seconds, Rostron said.

Once in, it took over the 9-foot-wide bow eating anything in its path, including two broomsticks, cushions, and speakers. It stayed alive for two hours.

"We stood in the back for a half hour before I gaffed it and Clint tied the tail," Rostron said. "Then we wedged it into the side of the boat."

The mako was the first caught this season in this area that he knew of, he said. A mako shark caught Monday off the Southern California coast near Huntington Beach could be the largest on record at 1,323 pounds.

"Pretty amazing," Rostron said of his catch. "Probably never going to happen again in our lives."