Fishermen film shark's 'unreal' leap into the air near their boat

Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A group of fishermen off the Florida coast captured video of their encounter with a mako shark that shocked them by leaping high up into the air.

Jake Gruse, who was celebrating his 27th birthday, was out in a boat with Ryan Hanks and a few other friends during the weekend when a mako shark was drawn to their boat by the smell of blood from a tuna the men had caught and were preparing for sushi.

The fishermen threw a line with some bait out to the shark and the predator swam off with it.

The fishermen captured video of the shark breaching, going high up into the air near their boat, before it swam away.

"It was a very unique thing to see that shark. It was pretty awesome," Hanks told WTVT-TV.

Gruse was even more enthusiastic in his summation.

"This was the greatest most adrenaline pumping moment that I ever had in fishing," he wrote on Facebook. "It was a great start to my 27th Birthday! The airtime those sharks get is unreal!"