The porbeagle shark looks more fearsome than it actually is (Image: Steve Watson / SWNS.com)
A plucky angler wrestled with a massive shark for 40 minutes before hauling the 17st beast into his boat.
Steve Watson reeled in the nine-foot long porbeagle shark while on a fishing trip with two of his friends off the coast of Whitby, Yorkshire.
Steve and his mates, Andy Watson and Matt Ward, couldn’t believe their luck when they encountered the saltwater predator 15 minutes out at sea.
Porbeagles are a relation to the fearsome Great White shark and are a relatively common sight in UK waters.
The trio usually make expeditions around the coast of Cornwall but decided to take their boat to up to the North Sea this time around.
Andy Watson (left) and Matt Ward (Image: Steve Watson / SWNS.com)
Upon luring the animal, Steve and the shark became locked in a desperate battle which he described as “very difficult”. After struggling for three quarters of an hour, Steve eventually emerged victorious before then releasing it back into the wild.
He said: "It was incredible. They come up to the surface and swim round the boat, it's amazing to watch.
"They are very delicate when they take the bait but after about 30 seconds we decided to tighten the line. It took about 40 minutes to land.
"They look very, very much like a great white, the only way to tell the difference is by their fins - they are very, very similar."
The group say they have previously caught other large sharks believed to weigh around 500lbs (35 stone). They estimated this shark to be around 17 stone.
Despite their fearsome looks, Porbeagle sharks are non-aggressive towards humans.
Earlier this month, 21-year-old fisherman Max Berryman was badly hurt by the razor-sharp teeth of a dead shark that fell from a fishing net. It was the first reported shark bite in UK waters for over a decade.
Steve and his two friends, from Wakefield and Dewsbury, have own a boat called 'Isobel' which is currently based in Whitby harbour. They say they plan to spend the summer exploring the North Sea for more sightings of sharks
The porbeagle shark (Image: Steve Watson / SWNS.com)
"Talking to local charter boat skippers, we think this could be the first shark caught off Whitby this year.
"Using special hooks which we get from USA, we were able to easily unhook the fish in the water, enabling it to swim off safely."
In June last year another group of amateur fishermen caught a porbeagle shark off the coast of Whitby.
The encounter happened two miles off the Whitby coast (Image: Steve Watson / SWNS.com)
Rich Cope, 38, who runs the Whitby-based boat charters, Mistress Sea Angling, said at the time: "It was like trying to control a car on a fishing rod!
"We were about 20 miles off the Whitby coast. We see them in the summer some seasons, but we don't see many.
"This last month there have been a couple of sightings in that area. We had only been fishing about 15 minutes when we got it on.
"We knew it was a shark, it was very exciting. I don't suppose many people have a job like mine, I love fishing and get a lot of excitement."