Massive hammerhead shark seen snatching fish out of Florida man's hands in shocking video
A Florida area charter captain posted a video of a hammerhead shark grabbing his catch out of his hands on Thursday, August 15.
Rob Gorta, the fishing guide who has worked in the Tampa and St. Petersburg area for over 22 years, recently shared a GoPro video of the June 4 incident on his YouTube page.
In the clip, Gorta was seen trying to hold up a massive tarpon after having caught it off the waters off Anna Maria Island near Bean Point.
As he was about to take a picture with his catch, a 14-foot-long hammerhead shark charged toward his boat to photobomb the snap.
“All of a sudden a monster hammerhead just took it right out of my hands it was amazing I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Gorta told ABC Action News. “Just came right out of nowhere and ripped the fish out of my hands. We are all in awe we didn’t know what to do.”
Gorta appeared to have been completely taken aback when the predator succeeded in wrestling the fish out of his grasp. “He just took it out of my hand!” he could be heard yelling in the video.
The fishing guide said that it was a possibility that the 1,300 pound-hammerhead had injured its prey before he got his hands on the tarpon as the fish already had bloody marks on its body when he was trying to reel it in.
After snatching the fish away from Gorta's hands, the shark continued to pursue the catch above and below the water.
In order to give the fish a fighting chance, Gorta even unhooked it from his fishing line, but his efforts were in vain.
After three minutes of intense action, the shark won.
“I really felt bad for the fish, you know, they are an amazing fish, and I make a good living off of them,” Gorta said. “They are a lot of fun, and I have the utmost respect for them. There’s nothing I could really do to save that fish.”
He added that although bull sharks could commonly be spotted off the coast, where he operated, hammerheads were rarer. “Most of the time the shark attacks are large bull sharks. I have several bull shark videos on my YouTube channel and they are very, very aggressive. Hammerheads like this though, you rarely see them this large attack our fish. Maybe once or twice a year, if you’re lucky," he told WFLA.