We spoke to the young kiwi fisherman who’s gone viral after he had a hectic encounter with a great white shark near Cape Reinga recently.
19-year-old Matt Wells was filming a video for his YouTube channel, where he showed himself heading along the remote coastline in his kayak. The vlog of his fishing was all pretty normal, up until he spotted the great white in the water right beside him.
“What the… Great white! Great white! Great white shark,” Wells said upon seeing the shark, which was essentially the same length as his kayak.
After cutting off his live bate, and an audible “fuck this I’m outta here,” Wells began paddling away. But the shark followed, and continued to hunt him for about 8 minutes while Wells paddled and dropped some f-bombs along the way.
Speaking to The Morning Rumble, Wells spoke about the encounter, saying the shark “appeared outta nowhere.”
“My heart was probably going a thousand beats a minute,” he said.
Speaking on the size of the great white, he reckons seeing them on TV doesn’t do their size justice: “They’re like two animals in one.”
Nightmare fuel.
Thankfully, after kayaking away at a slow and consistent pace, the great white “eventually lost interest” in the fisherman.
In the viral video, you can hear some panic in Wells' voice, but there’s no doubt that he handled the situation remarkably well, especially considering the shark was just 15 or 20 centimeters away from the kayak’s rudder. At one point, he casually pleads with the shark, “please don’t attack me bro.”
He said, “I was more scared than it looked on camera,” but on reflection, he’s “grateful for the experience.”
He describes encountering the sea’s largest apex predator as “both a terrifying and amazing experience.”
The encounter certainly didn’t scare him away from getting back out on the water - he was back out there the next day and the day after, although he did move locations.
“I just like to think he was curious and working out I wasn’t on the menu,” he told The Rumble.
It’s pretty epic that the incredible moment is all captured on film, with the video garnering over 400,000 views on YouTube in the last two days.
If you’re keen to follow along with Wells’ future kayaking fishing adventures, you can check out his YouTube channel here.
Incredible stuff!
