An epic, two-hour battle between spear fisherman Craig Clasen and a 12-foot tiger shark in the Gulf of Mexico.

The life-and-death struggle took place off New Orleans when Clasen, filmmaker Ryan McInnis and two friends were hunting tuna.

Suddenly McInnis found himself cut off and the shark began circling.

“I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass,” said Clasen, 32, who was wearing a snorkel. “The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us.

“Down in my core I really felt the shark was there to feed. I didn’t want it to come to that.”

During the underwater struggle, Clasen speared the shark seven times and even attempted to drown it before finishing it off with a long-blade knife. It wasn’t clear how often Clasen had to resurface to breathe. “Once I shot it in the gills I felt a moral obligation to finish the job,” he said. “In the end we put a knife in its skull.”

Clasen took no pleasure in his victory last June. “This was one of the most remorseful moments I have ever had in all of my years in hunting and fishing,” he said.

Talk about some crazy shit. One minute you are fishing for some Tuna…next thing you know you’re in an epic wrestling match with JAWS. That’s why i’m scared of the deep sea…that’s where the real monsters are. Maybe next time this guy will take a play from my own life playbook and buy his tuna from the store where it’s already in a can and ready to go.

If you want to see pictures of the battle (yes, there are actually pictures of this thing going down):

http://www.nypost.com/photos/galleries/news/nationalnews/pp_20090312_shark_killer/photo01.htm

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