Florida fishermen catch rare sawfish

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla., May 27 (UPI) -- Sawfish are quite rare. Claim to have caught one, and most listeners would be apt to chalk it up as just another fisherman's tale.

Luckily, Dustin Richter and his friends had the camera rolling as they hauled in the odd, shark-like fish in Florida over the weekend.

Reeling in the endangered species took Richter and company nearly two hours, a grueling fight. The young men from Boynton Beach caught the sawfish at the outset of a midnight fishing trip. They went on to hook a kingfish as well.

The kingfish almost pulled out the entirety of his line, Richter said, but nothing compares to the 11-foot, 500-pound sawfish he and his friends hauled to shore -- its long, toothy snout, for which it's named, snared by Richter's hook.

"Just incredible," Richter said of the experience. "That's the word I've been saying. We are going to remember this for the rest of our lives."

"It's just one of those prehistoric-looking animals," he added. "If you see them you're lucky to see them and if you catch them you're even luckier."

After dragging the sawfish onto the sand to briefly star in an online video that's since gone viral, the young men cut the line and let the sawfish swim free.