A recent fishing trip off the coast of Venice, Louisiana turned into a thrilling and unforgettable experience for Dillon May and his friends.
They encountered a feeding frenzy of sharks, with dozens if not hundreds of the predators attacking a massive bait ball of small fish.
“Then we saw it was sharks on a bait pod, never seen anything like it,” May told Storyful. “No shrimp boats were in sight either!”
Video footage captured the chaotic scene, with the sharks swimming so frantically that they collided with the sides of the boat, drenching the fishermen with splashes of ocean water.
At one point, he said over a dozen sharks swam straight towards the boat as they chased down their prey.
May and his friends had set out to catch some yellowfish tuna, but when they saw the feeding frenzy, they steered towards it hoping to catch the menhadens for themselves.
They initially thought it was a tuna boil, a phenomenon where a large group of tuna feeds so vigorously that the water appears to boil.
However, they soon realized that it was a shiver of sharks attacking the bait ball, and no shrimp boats were in sight to help. The sharks even used the boat to their advantage, pressing the tuna against it to eat.
Encounters with sharks in the wild can be rare and exhilarating experiences, and May and his friends were lucky enough to witness a massive feeding frenzy up close.
In the end, May and his friends returned from their fishing trip with more than just a few yellowfish tuna. They also gained a newfound appreciation for the incredible power and beauty of sharks in the wild.