CT fisherman on paddle board hooks large shark during tournament, scary video shows

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He’s going to need a bigger boat — or at least a bigger paddleboard.

A Connecticut fisherman was floating alone on his stand-up paddle board when he suddenly reeled in a large brown shark during a tournament, footage of the frightening encounter shows.

Eddie Carroll, of Northford, cast his line off the coast of Madison in the Long Island Sound on Sunday when he hooked a large catch so big it started dragging his 12-foot paddle board.

“I was hoping it was a big blue to potentially win the tournament,” Carroll told NBC Connecticut.

“After a while, I thought maybe [it was a] world record striped bass or at least a personal best.”

After an exhausting hour-long battle with the fish, the experienced angler reeled it to the surface and was shocked to find he’d caught a massive brown shark.

Carroll took out his phone and started recording so he had evidence to prove the catch wasn’t just “another fishing story,” he said.

“I’m hooked into by far the biggest thing I’ve ever had on the line,” he says in the video, provided to NBC Connecticut. “I caught a glimpse of it. I think it’s a giant shark.”

Suddenly the shark swims into the frame from underneath the paddle board. Carroll estimated it was about 8 feet long.

“This is f—cking crazy,” he says as the tired shark floats next to him. “I got to cut the line.”

Carroll said he’d hoped to cut the line but was nervous about getting his hands too close to the shark’s razor-sharp teeth.

“A lot of adrenaline was pumping,” he said after the catch. “Definitely a shade of fear.”

Carroll, who grew up in Madison said he cut the line as close as he could and watched the shark swim away.