{"id":579209,"date":"2026-04-03T08:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579209\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T08:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:25:10","slug":"insane-moment-fisherman-wrangles-great-white-shark-off-california-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579209\/","title":{"rendered":"Insane moment fisherman wrangles great white shark off California beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another day, another shark spotted<\/a> along the Southern California coast.<\/p>\n

New video shows a 20-year-old fisherman shed everything but his tightie whities as he dove into the waves<\/a> to rescue a great white shark on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old fisherman shed everything but his tightie whities and dove into the waves to rescue a great white shark. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

Armed only with a pair of scissors, Kevin Phan charged into the surf just after 9 a.m. as the crowd watched him try to save a young shark tangled on a fishing line near Hermosa Beach Pier.<\/p>\n

Armed only with a pair of scissors, Kevin Phan charged into the surf as the crowd watched him try to save a young shark Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

Onlookers watched as the shark seemed still, then began thrashing as Phan lifted it by the tail and pushed it into an incoming wave.<\/p>\n

Onlookers watched as the shark seemed still, then began thrashing as Phan lifted it by the tail and pushed it into an incoming wave. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

Naturally, the beach erupted in applause.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the beach erupted in applause. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids were doing yoga on the beach,\u201d Frank Paine \u2014 a witness to the incident \u2014 told KTLA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody yelled shark. And so these guys brought this shark in. You\u2019re not supposed to hook them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some, the encounter was enough to reconsider future visits to the pier. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

For some, the encounter was enough to reconsider future visits to the pier.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know if I\u2019m gonna be coming here as often because of that,\u201d George Lam told the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly just here for smaller fish, something to get a quick bite.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rescue comes amid a spike in shark sightings, with experts warning the most active shark season is just getting underway. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

The rescue comes amid a spike in shark sightings, with experts warning the most active shark season is just getting underway.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, a great white shark was spotted ominously circling a surfer<\/a> at Newport Beach, prompting authorities to evacuate the water.<\/p>\n

The frightening incident occurred on West Newport Beach off 35th Street, forcing officials to clear the beach one mile east and west of the shark\u2019s last known location.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, a great white shark was spotted ominously circling a surfer at Newport Beach, prompting authorities to evacuate the water. Instagram\/proudlyservingmatt<\/p>\n

The surfer said she didn\u2019t realize the feared predator was circling her surfboard until it was only inches away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shark was three inches from my ankle when I noticed it,\u201d Vivian Phong-Ngo told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I hit it with my board when I was surfing in.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the shark\u2019s fin emerged from the water, she began yelling \u201cshark\u201d as the approximately 8-foot juvenile great white closed in.<\/p>\n

The shark was never found, despite surveillance in the water and air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another day, another shark spotted along the Southern California coast. New video shows a 20-year-old fisherman shed everything…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[7989,49,3335,48,4689,41189,1522,9929,66,4778,886,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-579209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-beaches","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-fishing","13":"tag-great-white-sharks","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-sharks","18":"tag-us-news","19":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}