A 20-year-old fisherman stands in the crashing surf of Hermosa Beach, stripped down to his underwear, face-to-face with an apex predator. Around him, a crowd of beachgoers and pier onlookers watch in absolute silence as he grabs a juvenile great white shark by the tail. He's trying to yank a massive hook out of its mouth.
It looks like a heroic scene straight out of a reality television show. But honestly, it’s a masterclass in what not to do when you accidentally hook a protected marine animal.
The incident unfolded on a Wednesday morning in Southern California. The angler, Kevin Phan, was fishing off the Hermosa Beach Pier when something massive took his bait. He wasn't targeting white sharks; he was looking for legal thresher sharks. But out here, the ocean doesn't care about your fishing target list. When the battle ended and the juvenile great white washed into the shallows, looking limp and exhausted, Phan's brain clicked into panic mode. He stripped down, dove into the water, and wrestled the thrashing shark to remove his tackle before guiding it back into the surf.
The crowd cheered. The internet went wild. But if you talk to marine biologists, they aren't applauding. They're cringing.
The High-Stakes Illusion of Beachfront Shark Heroics
When you see a video of a guy wrestling a shark in his boxers, it’s easy to get caught up in the drama. The shark looks helpless on the sand, the waves are pounding, and the human looks like a savior.
It’s an illusion.
Wading into the surf to manually unhook a great white shark puts both the human and the animal in extreme, unnecessary danger. Juvenile great whites might look small compared to the 15-foot monsters we see on television, but a four-to-five-foot shark is still a solid block of muscle armed with razor-sharp teeth. They can turn on their own axis in a split second. When they feel threatened or pinned down in shallow water, they bite defensively. Phan walked away with some cuts and scrapes, but he easily could've lost a hand.
The risk to the shark is just as bad. When a shark is dragged into shallow water or held down in the surf, its internal organs suffer from the lack of water pressure supporting its weight. The stress of the struggle alone can cause a fatal buildup of lactic acid in their muscles.
What California Law Actually Says About Catching Great Whites
You can't target great white sharks. Period. Under California state law, they've been a protected species since January 1, 1994. It's illegal to pursue, catch, or land them.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife Code:
If you incidentally hook a protected shark species, you must release it immediately.
The key word here is immediately.
Anglers often make the mistake of thinking "release" means bringing the fish to the beach, posing for a quick photo, getting your expensive hook back, and then sending it on its way. That's a direct violation of the law. The moment you realize a great white is on the end of your line, the clock stops. You don't reel it closer to the pier. You don't drag it onto the sand. You cut the line right then and there.
Losing a twenty-dollar rig hurts your wallet, but it's the cost of doing business when you share the water with protected wildlife.
Why We Are Facing a Sharky Summer
This isn't an isolated fluke. If you think shark encounters are getting more frequent along the US coast, you're exactly right.
Dr. Chris Lowe and the team at the California State University, Long Beach Shark Lab have been tracking these movements for years. Researchers started spotting four-and-a-half-foot baby white sharks incredibly early in the season—well before their usual April arrival.
The cause is simple: unusually warm coastal waters, compounded by a strong El Niño pattern.
These juvenile sharks treat the shallow waters off Southern California beaches like a nursery. The water is warm, the food is plentiful, and they generally stay out of the way of humans. But as water temperatures continue to break records, these nurseries are overlapping directly with popular surf spots and crowded fishing piers.
How to Handle a Shark on Your Line the Right Way
If you spend enough time saltwater fishing, you'll eventually hook something you shouldn't. When a shark takes your bait, forget about the heroics and follow these steps instead.
Cut the Line Close
Don't try to win the fight. Cut the leader as close to the hook as safely possible without getting your hands near the mouth. Modern hooks are designed to rust out over time, and a shark has a much better chance of survival with a hook in its jaw than it does after a twenty-minute wrestling match on a sandbar.
Keep the Animal in the Water
Never drag a shark onto dry sand or into the shallows where its belly rubs the bottom. If it's too heavy to manage while keeping its gills submerged, cut the line immediately.
Call the Professionals
If an animal is genuinely entangled in heavy commercial net or looks like it can't survive on its own, don't play lifeguard. Contact local lifeguards or state wildlife officials. They have the training, the heavy-duty cutters, and the protective gear to handle the situation without ending up in an emergency room.
We don't need to fear the water this summer, but we do need to respect it. Leave the shark wrestling to the movies, cut your line, and let the apex predators do what they do best: swim away.
