8-year-old boy reels in a shark twice his weight at Captiva Island

Reporter: Taylor Smith
Published: Updated:
Steele with his dad, C.J., after catching a shark twice his size. (Credit: Floyd family)
Steele with his dad, C.J., after catching a shark twice his size. (Credit: Floyd family)

An 8-year-old reels in a sandbar shark twice his weight! And it all happened on Wednesday afternoon at Captiva Island.

Steele Floyd is a local Sanibel Island fisherman. But this was not his first rodeo. He said reeling in the 100-pound shark was tough.

“Like I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to get it in and I thought the line was going to snap,” Steele said. “But, it didn’t.”

After Steele landed the shark on the beach, the excitement took over.

“Well, when the fight was over, I was screaming running on the beach,” Steele said.

Steele said this time of year is a good time to catch sharks, even more so when the sun goes down. But he also makes sure they are correctly released back into the water after he catches them.

The boy’s mother, Trisha, said Steele has grown up fishing with his dad, C.J., since he was born.

“It didn’t take but a second or two before he hooked up and the lone started screaming dragging,” Trisha said.

Steele’s mother and father could not be more proud of the little fisherman her boy has become.

“I’m super proud of him,” Trisha said. “Mostly proud he cares and is a responsible little steward of our oceans. I care about that more than anything In the world.”

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