A crowd on the Hermosa Beach Pier watched in silence as a local fisherman, stripped to his underwear and armed only with scissors, waded into the water to try and free the great white shark.
Local resident Alexandra Garry, who recorded the rescue report on her phone, said she was walking her dog around 09:20 on Wednesday morning when she saw two fishermen struggling to catch the heavy fish.
A fisherman used scissors and his bare hands to free a juvenile great white shark caught in a fishing rod off the Hermosa Beach Pier around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Video courtesy of Alexandra Garry).
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing, they must have found something really big,'” she said. “I thought maybe it was a big tuna, anything but a shark.”
But as the fish came closer to shore, it became clear that the men had mistakenly hooked a small white shark, the most common shark in Southern California, known for its distinctive white belly.
“The next thing I know, one of the fishermen was naked, stripped down to his underwear, and he was in the water trying to get the hook out,” he said.
That brave fisherman wasted no time getting close to the struggling young shark, he said. With scissors in hand, he cut the fishing line and then used his hands to try to drag his sharp-toothed friend back to the sea.
At first, things didn’t look good, and the dozen or so people watching from the fishing grounds began to feel depressed.
“It was really sad, because the shark didn’t look like it was moving a lot,” said Garry.
But soon after the line was removed, the shark moved again and began to thrash around trying to get into deeper water. The fisherman did not seem to be disturbed by the movements of this mysterious creature.
“He just jumped in there with the shark, and he was going around in the waves,” Garry said. “I’m no expert, but I’ve seen ‘Shark Week.’ I think his ankles were in danger.”
Professional shark flight photographer Carlos Gauna said young white sharks pose little danger to humans as they do not see them as a food source. The exception, he noted, is when fishing is involved as sharks may bite as a defense mechanism.
“The only time I worry about a young great white shark accidentally harming someone is when there is fishing near swimmers,” he said. “There’s a precedent for that; we’ve had shark bites from direct contact with close fishing.”
In 2014, a 7-foot-long great white shark bit a man swimming near the Manhattan Beach Pier. That attack began when a fisherman hooked a shark and spent more than 30 minutes trying to pull it back, causing the shark to become agitated.
Fortunately, on Wednesday morning both people and sharks survived the encounter.
A juvenile great white shark swims after being freed from a fishing line at Hermosa Beach.
(Alexandra Garry)
After several minutes of struggling to free the shark, a Hermosa fisherman picked up the creature by its tail and successfully pushed it into the crashing waves.
He raised his fists above his head in victory as the onlookers cheered.
“When he swam out, everyone in the pool clapped,” said Garry. “It was a time of great need for humanity.”
Chris Lowe, director of the Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab, told The Times last week that he expects an increase in shark sightings this summer due to unseasonably warm waters in Southern California. The warming trend began during March’s record heat wave and is expected to intensify during this year’s strong El Niño cycle.
“The last time we had a strong El Niño was in 2015 and 2016, and we had a lot of great white sharks hanging around in the morning,” Lowe said. “So I expect this year to be a hot summer.”
Last Thursday, lifeguards in Orange County temporarily closed an area in Newport Beach where an 8-foot great white shark was seen circling a diver.
LA County Lifeguards spokesperson Kealiinohopono “Pono” Barnes said Wednesday there was an outbreak of white shark incidents reported near the Manhattan Beach Pier.
“They weren’t comfortable and they were walking all over the place doing their own thing,” he said. “Santa Monica Bay is a nursery for white sharks, and it’s a sign of a healthy environment, so it’s a good thing that we’re seeing sharks out here.”
He said that the Department is preparing for an increase in sharks this summer and said that mariners who check sharks should not hesitate to inform the ranger. Lifeguards will monitor the sea creature, and in case of aggression, such as a shark running towards divers or swimmers, they will implement a temporary closure of the beach.
“I hope nothing bad will happen,” said Barnes. “There is no incident that we have had except the incident in 2014 where there was a shark that was actually on the list of fishermen.”
There have been no reports of illegal shark attacks on Los Angeles beaches in recent history, he noted, “so there’s nothing to worry about.”
