Three fishermen broke a world record when they caught a 1,323.5-pound shark off the coast off Southern California on Monday, ABC News reports.

So how were they able to find such a large catch? Jason Johnston, Matt Potter and Corey Knowlton, a co-host on the hunting show “The Professionals,” snagged the shortfin mako about 15 miles off shore in feeding waters after they followed a trail of birds.

"There's a big, long stream of birds that develop when you're laying bait for sharks that you follow," Knowlton said. "When the birds suddenly lifted up, that's when we started looking. Matt was the first to see it. He got up and started freaking out. 'Big mako!' 'Big mako!'"

Knowlton explained how terrifying it was to be close to such an enormous animal. "Any time you're dealing with an apex predator at a food source, it's frightening," the associate hunting consultant with the Huntington Consortiuma told the news station. "You are three to four feet away from something with the absolute ability to kill you. When it comes towards you, it comes with the purpose of killing and eating something."

"It took two hours to reel the shark in," Knowlton told ABC News. "Really, it was Jason who caught it and Matt who is the real genius behind it. He's able to look at the water temperature and underwater structures and see where the sharks are based on how they are feeding."

The shark was 11 feet in length and 8-feet in circumference.

Check out the July 1 episode of “The Professionals” to see the footage of the team catching the gigantic shark.

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