CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One surfer had a close call after he was bitten by a shark while out in the water at the North Packery Channel off Zahn Road Tuesday morning.
The surfer was able to make it back to shore and was treated for the injury to his foot. Despite several puncture wounds, 3NEWS was told that he will be okay.
Corpus Christi surfer Tommy Shilts provided first aid when his fellow surfer was initially bitten. Shilts thanked the the lifeguards who also arrived and took over to tend to his friend's injury.
The surfer was said to be out past the third sandbar when he felt a hit by the shark.
"He caught the bottom jaw of a pretty large shark it looked like. But it just kind of bumped him from underneath. He said it was a pretty hard bump," Shilts said.
In the last couple of days. There have been talks amongst surfers about an increase of activity in the water. Shilts told 3NEWS he knows just how lucky his friend is.
"Its just very rare, doesn't happen often, just kind of wild. His bite even though it looks pretty bad he got off pretty easy in my opinion and he agrees," Shilts said.
Kesley Banks is an associate research scientist with the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation at the HARTE Research Institute at A&M Corpus Christi where they have a shark tagging program.
"We have about 10 thousand of these deployed which are dart tags, we also have a satellite tracking program," Banks said.
While there's no telling exactly what kind of shark is responsible for the bite, most of time sharks stay away from humans.
"Probably the most common is a blacktip or bull shark with temps cooling down there might' be the occasional sandbar," Banks said.
"The biggest thing is to not act like prey, you are entering into their home," Banks said.