Fano and friend Brady Hyre, 13, decided to fish on a lazy, warm Saturday afternoon in late October. They went to the small dock across the street from Fano's house on Bessey Creek in Palm City and cast-netted a handful of small mullet.

Fano said it had been slow earlier that morning when he was fishing, so he didn't really have any expectations whatsoever.

"I just threw a bait out to see what would happen. When the fish hit, it started taking out the line, but slowly at first," Fano explained. Soon, it became apparent, he was hooked into something really big.