Watch: Florida Man Exacts Revenge on Shark

It’s often said revenge is best served up cold.

Commercial fisherman Allen Engleman, 28, doesn’t necessarily agree. He prefers his revenge filleted, cooked and dished up on a plate. At least that’s the case for the 7-foot spinner shark that drew Engleman’s ire on Sunday.

Engleman was out rough waters off Florida’s Singer Island just lying on his board, minding his own business when something took a bite out of his left hand.

“He took my left hand down and at the same time I reached down with my right, I grabbed his pec fin and I was battling back and forth with him while I was on my surf board and he let go,” Engleman said in a recorded interview.

That little encounter cost Engleman a trip to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach where he had to get 15 stitches, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Not willing to let the close call go, Engleman returned to the water on Monday with his 5-year-old son Greyson in tow.

See Also:

• 2 Florida Shark Attacks Reported Sunday
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• Shark Bites Man in 2 Feet of Water
• Florida Leads Nation in Shark Attacks

Armed with a fishing pole, standing on the beach, Greyson managed to snag in the shark Engleman is convinced was responsible for the bite.

“He’s getting revenge on the shark that got my hand,” Engelman said on camera as Greyson began to reel in the creature.

Engleman is convinced the shark caught Monday and the one who bit him on Sunday are the same. He recognized markings on its fins, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

The shark won’t have the opportunity to bite anyone else. After it was brought up on the beach, Engleman declared, “we’re going fillet it and we’re going eat it.”

Florida leads the world in the number of confirmed, unprovoked shark attacks annually. Most attacks, experts say, are similar to Engleman’s where nips are taken.

“Shark attacks in general are really a nonentity when we think of causes of mortality involved with humans,” George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus, told Patch. “It’s a lot more dangerous driving to the beach.”

Burgess explains that most Florida shark attacks are “hit-and-runs” in that the sharks just take a quick grab and move on for more tasty prey. Even so, fatalities are not unheard of. After all, larger species, such as bull and tiger sharks call Florida home year-round and great whites are known to visit the area, as well. Many of the larger sharks are found in the Gulf of Mexico, but that’s not always the case.

While a number of shark attacks have occurred in Florida waters in 2015, none have been fatal. In September, two separate attacks on the same day involving young children were reported along the Atlantic coast. Other attacks have been reported across the state, including the Gulf Coast. A woman was bitten in waist-deep water as November kicked off.

To learn more about sharks in Florida, visit the museum online.

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