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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A charter boat captain reeled in a six-foot bull shark in The Rigolets on Friday, July 5.

Captain Mackie Bellott says it’s the biggest shark he’s ever seen or caught in Lake Pontchartrain.

“When we saw the fin break the surface, it was exciting,” Bellott said. “It was game on.”

Bellott says he targets sharks and other fish in Slidell and Mandeville.

Charter boat captain Mackie Bellott and friends reeled in a 6-foot bull shark in The Rigolets... — Charter boat captain Mackie Bellott and friends reeled in a 6-foot bull shark in The Rigolets Friday (July 5) morning. He says it's the biggest shark he's ever seen or caught in Lake Pontchartrain.(Captain Mack)

“I was like ‘this has to be over five feet long. It’s a big bull shark,” Bellott explained. “As it got closer and closer, I realized it was even bigger than that.”

Bellott believes the shark was pregnant.

“After about an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally got it alongside the boat. It took three of us to actually lift it in the boat,” he recalled. “We lifted her in the boat, got her on the deck and we were just high-fiving. It was awesome. We rolled the tape out and measure it and it came up 75 inches.”

Charter boat captain reels in 6-foot bull shark in Rigolets

“We ended up deciding to let it go. It looked like a pregnant female. We all agreed to let it go,” Bellott said. “It was just super cool to see and just a wicked experience. But yeah, seeing a shark that big up close in a boat. It was really, really scary.”

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