SOUTHAMPTON — Campbell Keenan is still reeling from his trip to Florida.

When the Southampton sixth grader returned to classes at the Campus School of Smith College this week, he had a whale of a tale to tell classmates after catching an 11-foot great white shark.

“My arms are pretty sore, especially my forearms,” he explained.

The trip south was originally planned because his sister, 14-year-old Cali Keenan, who plays for the Connecticut Polar Bears, had a hockey tournament in Lake Worth, Florida, according to Keenan’s mother, Colleen. The family extended the trip into a mini-vacation and stayed with relatives.

With the extra time in the sunshine, Keenan, who likes to fish with both his maternal and paternal grandfathers, made plans to go out on the water. After his paternal grandfather’s plans changed, he thought he might have to cancel, but his mother decided she’d take him and invited her daughter’s coaches, Janice Yang and Katie Savage, to accompany them.

While the 12-year-old had been out on the water in the past, this trip was a little different. This time, they had chartered a boat through Fishing Headquarters out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

After a few hours of trolling, or trailing the fishing line behind the boat at a medium pace, Keenan said he hadn’t even gotten a nibble.

“It was actually a pretty slow day. We hadn’t caught anything,” Keenan said. “I was hoping to get a tuna, a grouper, a marlin, a wahoo ... anything that would be a decent-sized fish.”

He then switched to a larger fishing rod and baited the line with some dead blackfin tuna. In the meantime, the crew on the boat passed out some smaller fishing poles to do some bait fishing, and shortly thereafter, the larger rod started to pull.

“We didn’t know at that point it was a shark — we had no idea,” he said. “We thought it was a marlin because when it got on the hook, it took about 300 yards of line — it was really surprising.”

From there, the battle was on and the catch fought him for 45 minutes. His mother and Savage held onto the chair that he was sitting in because although he was attached to the rod, he was not attached to the chair.

“They had to hold onto me, and then the first mate, David Jackson, helped me reel it up and down,” he said. “When we realized it was a shark, I was a little scared.”

Colleen Keenan agreed with her son’s sentiment, saying that she, too, was afraid he was going to fall into the water.

“I was excited for him, worried that he was getting too exhausted and that he might pass out because he was sweating profusely, and his legs were shaking,” she said. “I could see him opening and closing his hands every time he had a break, just to try and get his muscles working again. So, I was really scared, but it was really exhilarating at the same time.”

Forty-five minutes later, everyone could finally see what it was that Keenan was trying to catch — a great white. It would be another 20 more minutes of chaos before the crew could measure and tag the exhausted shark, and get close enough to the hook to remove it without anyone getting their arm bitten to release the shark.

The shark was tagged and logged through Gray FishTag Research. A female, it weighed between 400 and 700 pounds. The shark will also be listed on OCEARCH Shark Tracker, according to Colleen Keenan.

As part of the tagging process, sharks are named, so that they can keep track when they are caught again. Keenan named the shark “Jan Jan” after his sister’s coach, because like the shark, Yang is very fierce, his mother said.

“It just seemed very fitting,” she said. “In any of the videos, you can hear her shouting and cheering him on in the background like a true coach.”

The words from the boat’s captain, Paul Paolucci, also resonated with Keenan: “You’ve got the rest of your life to rest. Fight now!”

The experience has been quite a whirlwind for Keenan. After catching the great white on Tuesday afternoon, he was greeted by a camera crew and then flew home to Massachusetts early Wednesday morning. That same morning, he did a virtual interview with CNN and has since recalled his unique experience with multiple media outlets as well as with classmates and teachers at his school.

“Everyone has been congratulating me and very supportive,” he said.

In the future, Keenan has hopes to become a local entrepreneur, but for now, his sights are set on catching a marlin or tuna.

“Next stop: ‘Wicked Tuna’ (the reality TV show),” Colleen Keenan said.

Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.]]>