'Holy liftin’!': N.S. man hooks great white shark while striped bass fishing

N.S. man hooks great white shark A Nova Scotia man hooked a juvenile great white shark in the Minas Basin while striped bass fishing.

Striped bass fishing is one of the most popular forms of angling in Maritime waters, but one fishermen hooked more than a big striper Sunday.

Rick Austin says he was out on his fishing kayak in Nova Scotia’s Minas Basin when he caught something large on the end of the line.

Little did he know it was a juvenile great white shark.

Austin recorded the encounter and posted it to Facebook. Warning: graphic language.

“She’s pretty big. Yeah, she’s pretty big,” he can be heard saying from his head-mounted camera as he reeled it in.

“Holy liftin’! I mean, seriously people, I got a glimpse of that thing. That thing is massive,” Austin said before it jumped out of the water.

Austin thought it was a porpoise and let it go. He says he later got confirmation from biologists at the New England Aquarium and the Department of Integrative Biology from the University of Guelph that is was indeed a great white shark.

The scientists estimate the shark measures between six and eight feet in length and weighs between 200 and 250 pounds.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.