This is what it looks like when you give way to your intrusive thoughts…
We’ve seen our fair share of predator fish taking out an angler’s catch, like this pike hitting a boat-side walleye, but none of them have been quite this violent and certainly none of them showed the fisherman fighting back.
An Australian angler who goes by Cavy was fishing for bluefin trevally in some shallow, rocky water in Hawaii when an unexpected visitor took notice of the struggling fish at the end of his line.
A blacktip reef shark came flying in and attacked the fish, taking a good sized chunk out of it. But Cavy isn’t one to sit by and watch his catch get eaten.
He runs through the water towards the shark, and when he gets close enough, starts beating it over the head with his fishing pole.
Yes, you read that right, he beat it with his rod.
Obviously, this isn’t the smartest thing to do. I mean it would take half a second for the shark to latch onto his leg and start ripping some meat off (like happened to this poor woman on Rockaway Beach), but eventually the shark decided it had enough and swam off to find another meal.
Maybe even more impressive was the bluefin, who was severely injured in the attack, but was able to get off the line and swim away to safety. Cavy said he later spotted it swimming around, although I reckon it won’t be long before another shark decided to try and take it out for good.
“This is what happens when a real shark attacks! The shark was triggered into a frenzy after it took a big chunk out of the fish I had on my line. I ran over and began hitting the shark with my rod, but this wasn’t enough to stop it from coming back!
The fish in the video is called a Bluefin Trevally aka Omilu in Hawaii. The Bluefin was attacked by a Blacktip Reef Shark which are known to be quite aggressive when in feeding mode. Believe it or not the fish survived the brutal attack and later on that day I saw it swimming around the shallow lagoon hunting fish.”
What a wild moment. There’s no chance in hell I’d have fought a shark for a fish, but hey, maybe that’s why I’ll be a forever amateur while this guy is out there landing monsters all over the world.
Guess I can check “Watch a fisherman beat a shark with a fishing pole” off my 2023 bingo card…
Here’s a short clip of the encounter. The entire thing is in the YouTube video below it.
