Shark Bites Kayak, Kayaker Fights Back

Mako Kayak (Austin Pob / Facebook)
Austin Pob / Facebook

Two fisherman on kayaks near San Diego last Thursday morning turned the tables on a mako shark intent who attacked one of the kayaks, reeling the shark in instead.

Just before 7 a.m., last Thursday, Austin Lorber and David Le were kayaking roughly a mile and a half from La Jolla when Le felt something grab the mackerel he had thrown in the water for bait. Lorber told NBC San Diego, “As soon as he hooked up we noticed a fish jump way out of the water, probably five or six feet. I looked back thinking it was a dorado because those are typically what will jump like that that we get around here. And then … I saw a shark. Makos around here are the only ones that will jump like that.”

Lorber was determined to land the 5-foot-long shark, and even started his GoPro camera to film what followed. He said, “I just had to hold on to it for about 45 minutes as it dragged me around. I didn’t want to get my hand anywhere near that head until it had been tired for at least a half hour.”

Lorber and someone in another kayak eventually transferred the shark to the fish hold. Upon landing, the shark was weighed at around 100 pounds.

Lorber, who owns Fratelli’s Italian Kitchen in San Marcos and Oceanside with his brothers told NBC that the shark had been so tasty that by Monday night only 10 pounds of it remained, commenting, “Those are the best steaks in the ocean, those and thresher shark; beautiful, beautiful steaks.”

Oceanside lifeguards reported seeing a 6-foot shark off the coast in late May.

 

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