12-Year-Old Boy Reels In Great White Shark

There's a twelve-year-old boy in Florida who has now moved to the upper echelon of "The People I Hate" list.  Let me explain.  I have one and only one deep sea fishing story.  When I was a sophomore in college, Spring Break was spent off the coast of Miami in a house on stilts in the middle of Key Biscayne.  A fraternity brother's uncle owned the place and gave four of us free reign and use of a boat for a week.  It was AWESOME.  As a surprise toward the end of the week, the uncle paid for all of us to go on a deep-sea fishing trip.  I am not, and have never been a big fishing guy, but how many times do you have the chance to do this kind of thing?  And, it was free, so I was all in.

We were having a great day hauling in enough tuna and mahi to feed a small country for weeks.  And then, we hooked it.  Twelve feet long and not happy to be at the end of our hook was a hammerhead shark.  It was on.  We did battle with this monster for four hours.  As the shark got closer and closer to the boat, our fantasy of having this thing stuffed and mounted on the wall of the frat house (with our picture next to it, of course) also got closer and closer.  We were so close.  As the shark, literally got next to the boat, it seemed to stop fighting, smile, leap from the water, and bite through our line.  The flow of curse words that filled the air was second only to the flow of the afternoon tide in ferocity.

Which now gives you the background on why I can't stand Campbell Keenan.

You gotta be kidding me?!  Four grown college students couldn't handle one hammerhead shark and this kid reels in an eleven foot great white shark?  He gets to brag the he literally caught "Jaws?!"  Not only that, but we fought FOR HOURS with that hammerhead.  Campbell reeled in his shark off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale in 45 minutes?  I do like that he released the shark though.  As much as I would have loved to have had our shark on the wall, we would have had to have survived the trip in with that thing in the boat.  And as far has his shark goes, can you imagine the perils of trying to subdue a great white?  No thank you.

Get ready, because Shark Week has begun. That's right my North and South Carolina friends, if you are swimming in the deep blue seas this week, be on the lookout for our deadly finned friends.

'Shark Week' returns to Discovery on July 24, featuring great whites, hammerhead sharks, and more. Get out the popcorn and hold on to your limbs. FloridaBet.com analyzed data to determine which US state you are most likely to get attacked by sharks during Shark Week.

With 828 shark attacks.

With 230 shark attacks.

With 187 shark attacks.

With 116 shark attacks.

With 84 shark attacks.

With 28 shark attacks.

With 25 shark attacks.

With 13 shark attacks.

With 12 shark attacks.

With both having 11 shark attacks.

Since 1900, according to SharkAttackData.com, there have been 1,636 unprovoked shark attacks, and Florida (828) accounts for slightly more than half. Hawaii follows with 230 attacks, and California is third at 187. The Carolinas round out the top five.