Cooper Bakke, 15, of Grand Forks, caught this bonnethead shark and stingray during a mid-March family trip to Tampa, Fla., while fishing with his dad, Jason; great uncle, Rob Calvert of Tampa; and cousin Cannon Calvert of Tampa. They rented a boat on Saturday, March 13, and Sunday, March 14, Cooper says, and caught a mixed bag of species while fishing in Tampa Bay “right under a busy highway.”
Cooper said he and his dad both caught sharks and few stingrays among the species they landed. “I go to Devils Lake so I usually catch walleyes and northerns so it’s nothing compared to a shark,” Cooper said. “I didn’t even know what I had on until my cousin was saying, ‘It’s a shark, it’s a shark,’ so I thought that was pretty sweet.”
Cooper is a freshman at Central High School.
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“What are the odds that a 15-year-old North Dakota boy is going to catch a shark and a stingray?” said his grandma, Patti Wenstad of Grand Forks, who submitted the photos.
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Do you have a fishing photo you’d like to share with Herald readers? Send jpeg photos to Brad Dokken at bdokken@gfherald.com. Please include the person’s name, town of residence and whether the fish was kept or released.
