Nantucket beachgoers got quite a bit more than they bargained for on Sunday when a man lured in a shark and then wrestled him to the beach.
24-year old Elliot Sudal says he’s caught many sharks in his lifetime after living in Florida, but this was only the second one he’s brought to shore since living in Nantucket. He said that over the weekend, when he caught half a fish and recognized the bite marks, he knew there was a good-sized shark swimming around somewhere near him. After grabbing a larger rod, he snagged the beast and wrestled with it for 45 minutes in the water.
“A minute later, a shark picked it up and I could feel the line just start running out,” said Sudal. “Then you see this big splash. It jumps up and goes a little crazy. That particular shark took about 45 minutes to get in. It was probably 7 feet long and 200 pounds.”
Despite claiming he’s caught and wrestled over 100 sharks with his bare hands, Sudal says he’s always gentle and never kills the animals.
“I always treat them well,” said Sudal. “I feel conservation minded when it comes to that – I don’t kill any of them, I just let them go.”
Shark attacks have been common in recent years on the East Coast, with one man narrowly escaping with his life after a battle with a great white on Cape Cod last summer. Sudal didn’t say whether he’d ever been bitten.