The average amateur fisherman isn't generally thrilled at the prospect of coming face to face with a shark. Peyton Deane is not one of those people.

While her peers brag about their sun-filled vacations, the Wareham third grader has quite a different story to tell. While on a fishing trip with her father in Marion, Peyton caught a 2-foot shark.

“I’ve been fishing a bunch of times,” Peyton, 8, said proudly.

Peyton’s parents, Jennifer and Alan Deane, try to give each of their three kids – Arianna, 11, and Benjamin, 2, – a day filled with activities dedicated to each respective child’s interests. Sept. 5 happened to be Peyton’s special day.

After having lunch with mom, her father took her to Onset to spend time fishing together. Fishing has been a dad and daughter bonding activity for the pair since Peyton was just 2 years old when she caught her first fish.

Peyton and her dad decided to visit the Marion pier to try their luck when their usual haunt at Onset Pier was overcrowded. It turned out to be a great move. Things had been progressing quietly when Alan felt a pull on his line.

“My dad told me to reel it in, but it was so hard because it was so heavy. I had to keep pulling,” said Peyton.

She was victorious in the end, but to their great surprise it wasn’t any old fish dangling at the end of the hook. Instead, the Deanes were surprised to find a sand shark.

Coming in at about 2 feet long, Petyon can definitely say she made a great catch. After taking a quick snap of her trophy, she and her father released the shark back into the water.

The story doesn’t end there.

“This was not her first encounter with a shark,” said Jennifer.

When Deane was just 5 years old, she and her father saw two fishermen reel in a shark. Although the fishermen were too frightened of it to let it back in the water, Peyton saw a great opportunity to prove herself. She marched right up to the shark, gave it a kiss on the nose and released it back into the water.

“I wasn’t scared,” Peyton said. Apparently that is something that is as true then as it is now.