NEW ORLEANS - A shark was sighted and eventually caught on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain by a local charter fisherman last weekend.

While bull shark sightings aren’t incredibly uncommon in the lake, a mild winter and large amounts of baitfish will make the lake a prime breeding spot for the sharks this year.

Beau McCool, a local fisherman, said he had just made a cast with his feet in the water when he spotted a five foot bull shark just to the left of him. After screaming like “a little girl,” he called up Andy Jones with Wicked Fishing Charters of Mandeville.

Jones is a Pontchartrain bull shark snagging specialist and, while it wasn’t easy, he managed to angle the shark during the weekend. The fisherman says he’s caught many bull sharks in the lake in the three to four foot range, but the specimen spotted by McCool was one of the bigger sharks he’s pulled from the shallow lake.

Two years ago, a young boy swimming in Pontchartrain was bitten by what experts believed to be a bull shark. The bull shark breeding season will run from now until August in the lake, so swimmers are advised to remain conscious of their surrounding despite the relatively low threat.