Little Rock teen catches bull shark while on vacation

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A teen angler from central Arkansas may have made the catch of his life while vacationing with family earlier this month.

Nicholas Rupp of Little Rock reeled in a five and half foot long bull shark out of the Gulf of Mexico.

The family’s hope during their deep-sea fishing trip was to catch a red snapper but Rupp felt something far bigger on the end of his line.

After 25 minutes of reeling in and pulling against what was at the bottom of that line, Rupp and his family saw the belly of what had been putting up a fight.

“All I knew was that it was insanely hard and I was having to fight to keep the rod tip from bending into the water,” Rupp said.

Describing the shark as rough as sandpaper and the catch as pure adrenaline, Rupp said he was struggling to keep the tip of the rod above water.

“I was like, ‘This is bigger than any fish I’ve ever seen in person before,'” Rupp said.

Rupp said after catching and releasing the shark, the first thing he did was send the videos and pictures taken to his friends back home.

Nicholas’ mother Krysta Rupp said memories like this one are the ones she treasures most out of a vacation.

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