A 24-year-old fisherman in Nantucket wrestled a 7-foot shark on Sunday in front of fellow beach goers for 45 minutes. The stunning part is that Elliot Sudal says he’s done this hundreds of times before.
Sudal, a Connecticut native who moved from Florida to Massachussetts four months ago, was fishing with his cousins when he realized the fish were emerging with shark bites. He decided to take it upon himself to drag the shark to shore.
“I had my shark gear with me so I went and got that. I had half a blue fish. I threw him on there. I only tossed it out there 10 or 15 feet or so, which was right where the waves break,” he told Boston Herald. “People don’t realize there are so many of those around. I hooked into four of them that night. After I threw it out, I had him on the line in two minutes.”
Once he got him, he wrestled him for almost an hour. He also shared his technique, which is targeting the tail.
“I was covered in sweat. You get an adrenaline rush, and then it wears off and they you get tired,” he said. “There was a crowd of people around yelling.”
Sudal says he’s amused by the attention, saying “I’ve done this hundreds of times in Florida and its no big deal,” he said. “I do it once here and I’m on TV.”
Sudal posted on his Facebook page about the new-found attention, “I cant keep up with all these calls and voicemails and FB stuff. Let alone leave my house to get to Boston. Someone meet me in Boston. This got so wild!” also asking, “Anyone have any idea how I would go about trying to get a show? or at least a sweet job on a fishing boat?”
image: Elliot Sudal's Facebook