Two British sea anglers have made the national headlines after landing what is believed to be the biggest shark ever caught on rod and line off the UK coastline.

Wayne Comben and long-time big fish hunter Graeme Pullen hooked the porbeagle shark less than a mile off the Cornish coastline town of Boscastle and captured it on video – which you can see below.

The fish was some three metres in length, took an hour and a half to get to the boat and was estimated at around 250kg (551lb).

The existing British porbeagle shark record is a fish of 507lb caught off Pentland Firth, Caithness in Scotland in March 1993 by Christopher Bennett. This fish, which was 98 inches long with a 87inch girth, is also the IGFA All Tackle world record for the species, so the pair had a potential world beater on their hands.

However, instead of claiming a record they tagged and released the fish, also captured on the video.

The story made newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the video also appeared on Channel Four News.

The shark first showed itself after the men dumped their bait in the sea after a day’s fishing.

“I’ve never in my life seen something as aggressive,” said Pullen. “I have done tagging all around the world… I have never seen one as charged up and excited as this one.”