Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that humans aren’t the only ones out “fishing” on a given day on the ocean. Stuart Richie was out on his Ocean Trident 13 kayak on Luce Bay in southwest Scotland when he received exactly this message—and it was loud and clear.
As the video depicts, he had hooked a dogfish on light tackle and was reeling it in. But just as the fish broke the surface, a shark emerged from the depths and grabbed it—just a couple feet from Richie’s kayak. He watched in disbelief as the shark shook a few times and then dove back down with the fish in its jaws, snapping the line. You can hear in the video how stunned Richie is by the chance encounter that lasts less than 15 seconds.
Richie identified the shark as a tope shark, also known as a school shark, which primarily feeds on fish. They generally aren’t picky about what kind of fish either, seemingly going after whatever is available to them. In this case—readily available!
In an interview with the Mirror he explained, “When [the shark] grabbed the fish, I was shocked and just held on. I was praying that the GoPro was recording as no one would have believed me.”
Richie has caught trope before, but this was the first time he’s had an encounter like this. It’s certainly one he won’t forget!
