TWO friends out on a quiet fishing trip were amazed to hook a giant seven foot shark just yards away from a popular Pembrokeshire tourist beach.

The pair "couldn't believe their eyes" when they realised they'd hooked a massive porbeagle shark.

The porbeagle - from the same family as the Great White - was so large fishermen Mark Turner and Simon Shaw couldn't lift it out of the water.

The massive fish was estimated to have weighed a whopping 200lbs and measured around seven foot long.

After an exhausting hour-long battle to reel it in, partly recorded by Simon's son Geraint, 14, the men were forced to release it back into the sea.

Mark, 42, said: "When we saw it we knew what it was straight away, but we couldn't believe our eyes.

"We just thought 'oh my god, what's this doing so close to the shore?' They're usually found miles offshore.

"It was an unbelievable sight. It was 200lbs easy, and about seven foot long."

Mark, a scaffolder from Pembroke Dock, was fishing for tope shark on Wednesday evening with best pal Simon Shaw, 40, and his son when they came across their rare find.

Mark said: "When we realised what we'd hooked we all got a bit excited. But there was no way we were going to beach it because it was too big.

"I got it into the rocks but was absolutely exhausted after about half an hour, so I gave the line to Simon and he wrestled with it for about half an hour too.

"There was no way we could have beached it without hurting it or fatally injuring it so we had to let it go.

"It was a hell of a scrap and a total team effort."

The father of three said he is keeping the location - somewhere on the Pembrokeshire coast - a secret because he doesn't want rival anglers to overcrowd the area.

He added: "There's no recorded Welsh record for someone beaching a porbeagle so it was a bit of a shame we couldn't get it on land, but it's still a massive achievement.

"We'll give it a week or so before we go back just to let things cool down again."

The video of Mark and Simon's tangle with the shark has racked up hundreds of thousands of views online after being shared by fishing fans, with dozens of comments praising the men for their find.

Porbeagles are the most common sharks found along the British coast, but are usually found at least ten miles offshore.

Adults have been known to grow to over eight feet long and weigh nearly 300lbs but, despite their intimidating size, reports of them attacking humans or boats are extremely rare.

They are one of the most valuable sharks in British and Irish waters, with their meat and fins highly valued in markets across the world.