Tourist on Shark Fishing Trip in Florida Hooks Rare 13-Foot Fish Instead

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One of the things Ian Atherton had on his bucket list for his April vacation in Florida was to catch a shark. But in the end, Mother Nature had much cooler plans for the British tourist.

On April 9, Atherton went on a half-day shark fishing trip with Capt. Jon Cangianella of Fin & Fly Fishing Charters in Cocoa Beach, Florida. According to Florida Today, Cangianella took him a few miles off of Port Canaveral to a spot in where the water is about 35-feet-deep and released a chunk of bluefish to attract sharks.

It didn’t take long for him to get a bite. After an hour-long battle, Atherton’s had reeled his catch in enough for Cangianella to get a clear look at it. What he witnessed was the giant rostrum, or saw, of a 13-foot smalltooth sawfish.

Cangianella released the endangered fish without incident and it swam off unharmed. He then relocated the boat to a different spot where Atherton caught a few king mackerel, Florida…