A brave fisherman jumped into the Pacific Ocean Wednesday to help a young great white shark hooked on a fishing line in Hermosa Beach as onlookers captured the wild moment on video.<\/p>\n
The fisherman, Kevin Phan, accidentally caught the shark off the Hermosa Beach Pier. As he realized what kind of big catch was on the other end of the fishing line, he ran down to the shoreline to try to free the shark.<\/p>\n
Phan hopped into the water and approached the shark, which was slowly moving.<\/p>\n
Bystander Matthew McIvor and his wife were watching the events unfold from the pier and a video captured by McIvor shows Phan grabbing onto the shark\u2019s tail, trying to keep the fish in the water.<\/p>\n
The clip shows a local lifeguard driving onto the sand and trying to help.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Phan was able to cut the line, remove the hook, and release the shark into the crashing waves.<\/p>\n
As the shark swims away, McIvor\u2019s video shows Phan and the lifeguard giving one another a high-five as about a dozen onlookers cheer from the pier.<\/p>\n
McIvor told NBC Los Angeles that he and his wife regularly walk the Hermosa Beach strand and pier. As they strolled Wednesday morning, McIvor spotted a fisherman \u201cstruggling with a fishing rod.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thought it was odd because, as he put it, \u201cI usually never see anybody catch anything of importance.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this morning was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the fishing line like really like bent over and I’m like, \u2018Oh wow, someone’s got something big, or it’s caught on something,\u2019 McIver explained. \u201cI just looked over the railing and I was like, \u2018Oh my God, it’s like young shark,\u2019 and I was like, \u2018That’s insane.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
McIvor quickly pulled out his phone to film the moment because he\u2019d never seen anything like it in his 15 years of living in Hermosa Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, yeah, I started filming, and then I saw the kid running down to the shore, and I was like, \u2018Oh man, this is not going to end well,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut it seemed like he really knew what he was doing and he was super comfortable. And, you know, after only like a couple of minutes, he was able to get the hook out of the shark’s mouth and get it safely back into the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
McIvor said the shark seemed tired from fighting to get off the hook.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it typically would thrash about, or it was tired, so it didn\u2019t,\u201d he explained. \u201cI don’t know how sharks act when they get beached like that. But again, the kid really seemed like he knew what he was doing. He was insanely calm \u2014 probably calmer than I would be in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the shark was free, McIvor said everyone looking on from the pier seemed relieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was clapping. I think everybody wanted the same result,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody was super stoked when the shark finally made it back into the water.”<\/p>\n
McIvor said the water was clear, so the group was able to watch the shark swim away.<\/p>\n
He yelled down at Phan, \u201cGood job!\u201d<\/p>\n
McIvor said the moment certainly made for a \u201cpretty unique start to the day,\u201d which also happened to be his wife\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n
McIvor told NBCLA he posted the video<\/a> on Instagram and Phan was the first person to comment on it. He doesn\u2019t personally know Phan, so seeing him pop up in his feed was a fun surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cI was surprised that he found the video randomly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Other fishermen who seemed to know Phan also began commenting on McIvor\u2019s video.<\/p>\n McIvor owns a nearby restaurant, Proudly Serving<\/a>, and invited Phan to come in for a burger.<\/p>\n McIvor said Phan ended up coming into his restaurant later, but they didn\u2019t get a chance to meet because McIvor and his wife were in Venice celebrating his wife\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe posted his story and all that kind of stuff,\u201d McIvor said. \u201cI told my cashier, \u2018If this kid comes in, give him a burger, on me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShark experts said the uptick is a result of the warmer weather. Keenan Willard reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on March 27, 2026.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n A \u201csharky\u201d season in Southern California<\/p>\n According to local experts, shark sightings have been higher than usual<\/a> this year across Southern California because the weather and water have been warmer than usual.<\/p>\n That pattern is expected to continue through the summer.<\/p>\n Last week, Chris Lowe, director of the California State University Long Beach Shark Lab, told NBCLA that a strong El Ni\u00f1o and a marine heat wave stemming from the Pacific Northwest over the next few months is likely to push more sharks to the SoCal shorelines.<\/p>\n \u201cSo based on that, we predict it\u2019s going to be a very sharky summer,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n \u00a0Lowe said that although being bitten by a shark is possible, the probability is rare.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not food and we\u2019re not a threat, so we\u2019re just something to ignore,\u201d he told NBCLA last week.<\/p>\n Still, local beachgoers can take steps to protect themselves, including swimming or surfing in groups, avoiding the water at dawn or dusk, and sticking to beaches with lifeguards on duty.<\/p>\n On March 26, Newport Beach Fire Department lifeguards confirmed a sighting of an 8-foot great white shark\u00a0circling a surfer in Newport Beach<\/a>, off 35th\u00a0Street. Access to the water was closed for several hours as a precaution.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t