When you’re fishing from a kayak, you don’t really expect to be the bait. And for the most part, you’re not the bait, but if a shark decides to check you out… well, it’s checking you out, whether you like it or not. Such was the case with a man fishing off his kayak in Hawaii.
Scott Haraguchi was fishing about a mile off the coast of Kualoa when the shark hit his kayak. His GoPro was on because he had a fish on. “I heard a whooshing sound that sounded like a boat,” he said. “Like it was heading towards me without the motor. I looked up and I saw this big, wide, brown thing which my brain thought was a turtle. But then I got slammed by it and I realized it was a tiger shark.”
Haraguchi has a theory about why the attack might have happened. Later on, he saw a wounded seal. He thinks the shark might have attacked the seal, then decided to let it die before going in for a meal. Haraguchi’s kayak may have resembled the seal to the shark, which would make sense. A recent study found that most shark attacks are likely cases of mistaken identity.
Thankfully, he was able to kick it away without harming himself or the shark, but the footage he captured is pretty incredible.
