For 11-year-old Zandyn Merritt, holding a small bull shark in his hands has taken on a new meaning as he caught it too close to home along the banks of the Alabama Tombigbee River.

Alisha Richardson said the discovery and catch in the early hours of July 21 surprised everyone when the 10-pound, three-foot shark was found on a trout line.

“It was caught near the Shepard Lake area in Mt. Vernon,” Richardson stated. “We were surprised, but that boy is a real fisherman. He catches everything. We run, my mother Sandy and I, the fish camp Eddie Jordan’s Seafood here in Mt. Vernon. Zan has been on the river all of his life. Everywhere we go he catches something with shock value. Eddie Jordan, my father and Zan’s paw-paw, died with Covid three years ago and Zan was his right-hand man. He is living out a legacy of a real catfish king, a true legend around these parts, so Zan gets it honest.”

Richardson mentioned they have also caught mullet in the area.

In 2016, John Wayne Adams of McIntosh caught a baby bull shark near the McIntosh Boat Landing, which is more than 45 miles from Mobile Bay. Adams was baiting his trout line when the shark took one of the hooks in the water while he was placing out the line.

Pictured is Zan holding the shark found on the trout line.

Courtesy of Call News.