THE great white shark strikes fear into the heart of swimmers across the world, but many would be shocked at what lurks in the depths off our coast.

The Isle of Wight is one of Britain's top shark hot spots and summer is their premier feeding season.

Only last Thursday, an angler hooked an enormous shark off the Isle of Wight that was even bigger than the one splashed across the national newspapers this week.

The 12ft 6in (3.8m) thresher- about the same length as a Toyota Yaris - was caught by Bembridge builder Danny Vokins.

The amateur fisherman, who releases every shark he catches, said that in more than 30 years of fishing, the 300lb beast was the biggest catch of his life.

Using live mackerel as bait on an 80lb line, the shark was hooked at 1.30pm about four miles south east of St Catherine's - the southern most point of the island.

"The fight lasted about 35 minutes - it was a good fight, he shot clean out of the water three times," he recalled.

"It's a pure adrenaline rush - you've got to be there to appreciate it.

"Once you catch one of these big fish you get hooked on them - it's the same with all the family."

Mr Vokins made international headlines 26 years ago when he was fishing with a friend in a competition off the Isle of Wight when a 400lb thresher stalked their boat before leaping clean through the air and onto the deck.

The thresher, which stuns prey with its large tail, is one of 31 species of shark circling Britain, including the short-fin mako and even one type of hammerhead.

More than 2,000 sharks have been tagged by fisherman off the Isle of Wight in the past seven years.

Threshers, porbeagles and the deadly blue sharks are the most common sharks sighted off Hampshire.

Skipper Chris Solomon, from Catchalot Charters, said many people would be shocked at what lurks beneath.

"We have sharks in the water all the time, people just don't realise what is in the sea and has been all this time," he said.

"Three years ago we had a couple of Australians on board and a thresher breached the water three times and they were really amazed.

"To come all the way from Australia and then see sharks jumping off the Isle of Wight - they couldn't believe it."

The country was put on shark alert this week after two sightings of a giant shark off St Ives, in Cornwall.

Shark hunter Zyg Gregorek, who has vowed to catch the 12ft shark, is convinced a great white stalked his boat off the Isle of Wight a few years ago.

"I've been fishing for these monsters off Cornwall for ten years because I know they are there," he told a national newspaper.

"It's only a matter of time before I catch this fish. It is man against beast - and I will win."

Experts are divided over its species, but after studying the footage local shark experts and anglers say it is not a great white.

In fact, Mr Vokins is convinced it is nothing more than a harmless basking shark.

"It's definitely a basking shark - without a shadow of a doubt," he said.

Dr Ken Collins, a marine scientist at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, agreed.

"There has been no evidence of great white shark in British waters, but it's not impossible," he said.

The bookies certainly believe it's possible, slashing the odds of a great white being caught off the British coast from 25/1 to 8/1.

Dr Collins, who co-ordinates the UK shark tagging programme, said he would have given longer odds - perhaps 100/1.

In fact, he said the chances of a great white being in British waters was slimming.

"Part of my scepticism is that the shark's story is a sad one," he said.

"Every shark in the world is endangered. They are disappearing faster than they can reproduce and most of that is down to over-fishing.

"The question really is will they survive long enough to come to the UK?"

Dr Collins dismissed the theory that climate change was creating ideal conditions for the predator.

"Climate change warming our waters is not the key factor because they already happily exist in South Africa where the water is far colder," he said.

"Great whites will exist quite happily in our temperate waters, so forget climate change as the catalyst for them arriving because it's OK here already."