North Dakota group catches the 'Colfax Crusher' in fishing story of a lifetime

COLFAX, N.D. — Being from a small, land-locked, Richland County town, it is not every day one gets to see a great white shark, let alone fight one on the other end of a line.

A group of family friends from Colfax, North Dakota, got the full experience while on vacation in south Florida for spring break.

"Threw fishing in as a thing to do with our oldest boys and just have a father-son thing and it turned into something pretty amazing," said Shaun Jacobson, one of the fathers who brought his family on vacation to the Sunshine State.

The six-person father and son team hooked onto an 8-foot, 600-pound great white shark off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.

"I got hooked up on a fish. It was tugging and I was fighting that thing, and we just hear the massive rod going," said 12-year-old Eli Reiger.

The dads jumped into action, going toe-to toe with the great white beast.

"My dad and Shaun started reeling as hard as they could and every 30 cranks they would switch off," said 8-year-old Easton Moch.

After an hour of battling on the open ocean, a fish many will only see in the movie "Jaws," was landed. They did not fully realize what they had until their guide's jaw dropped.

"I've been doing this 20 years full time as a captain and that's the second one that I've landed. The last one was about 15 years ago," said Adam Reckert, the fishing guide who took the group out.

The great white was tagged and measured, but before it was released, there was one thing left to do. Give it a name.

"We first did a name and it was 'Jaws,' then it was the 'Colfax Cruncher,' then we did 'Colfax Crusher,'" said 6-year-old Grey Jacobson.

"Because we wanted it to be a name that was unique to our town so no one would really have that name," Moch said.

The measurements will be used by a taxidermist to make replicas for the group of fishermen.

"Our biggest problem now is our wives are a little mad at us. They don't know where we are going to hang an 8-and-a-half foot fish in the house," said Easton Moch's father Jesse Moch.

The group of friends said it is going to be hard to top a trip like that and they can't wait to get to school and tell their friends.