The year before Christopher Meng-Killeen was to graduate with a degree in computer science at Boston College, he veered off his chosen career path for 12 months to explore a new avenue: shark fishing in Florida.
The 22-year-old New Yorker was lured by videos of extreme fishermen reeling in massive sharks and other incredible fish on Instagram. He saw his chance. As a boy, he told The Epoch Times, he‘d always loved fishing off Long Island with his father and, moreover, he’d studied filmmaking.
So why not become a content creator?
He'd filmed himself in the past making fairly large catches. “I did a lot of fishing in New York City, in Central Park, the Lake park,“ Meng-Killeen said, adding he'd posted his videos online.
Soon he began to notice people really loved seeing the big fish he caught in the middle of New York City and pondered just how big he could go. He took to the sea.
Accidentally reeling in his first shark while fishing off Long Island in 2022, he had an idea: he would seek sharks on purpose to catch and release them and fuel his then modest success on Instagram. With approximately 70,000 followers, he says, he felt confident more would come—if only he could produce.
Christopher Meng-Killeen poses with a shark in Florida. Courtesy of Christopher Meng-Killeen
“I wanted to take a gap semester to really see if I could take off with my content and if I really invested in it,” he said. Between his junior and senior years, from fall 2023 to fall 2024, Meng hit the beaches of southeast Florida. He fished on the Atlantic side; never mind the Gulf of Mexico.
“People call the east coast the ‘beast coast,’“ he said. ”Much bigger fish.”
Shark fishing is nothing like catching largemouth bass in Central Park. Sturdier lines and rods are built just for the purpose, and these are secured by a “stand spike” driven deep into the sand—sharks put up a monstrous fight. The angler can even wear a harness that binds him to the rod, so he can leverage his body weight most efficiently.
(Left) Christopher Meng-Killeen fishes for sharks on a beach in southeast Florida; (Right) Meng-KIlleen and his friends pose with a small shark. Courtesy of Christopher Meng-Killeen
Meng-Killeen wasn’t alone in Florida; he rendezvoused with another up-and-coming vlogger, Juno Brandon. A few more friends joined them.
And so began an epic expedition as the anglers converged on the beach to have a ball and catch sharks, while at the same time filming content to fill their Instagram and Facebook pages, not to mention YouTube channels, to grow their following.
Meng-Killeen would soon join a research tagging program to gather data on shark behavioral patterns and would also garner sponsorships for shark fishing gear and remote-controlled drones. These drones are used not just for photography, but to airlift bait some 600 yards off the shore. Chunks of oily bunker fish are used, which aren’t delightful to humans but sharks love it.
Over the months, they knew to fish during crucial times: an hour before and after both sunrise and sunset, Meng-Killeen said, and an hour before and after high tide.
“I just kept on, kept on fishing, and I just kept catching bigger and bigger stuff,” he said.
Sometimes, they would see their bobber dip underwater and then, after setting the hook, immediately feel that it was a huge shark. From the way it turned its head and swam while eating the bait, they knew it had a ton of weight behind it.
“If you look at the tails they have, they’re built for speed, they’re built for the open ocean, and they fight very hard,” Meng-Killeen said.
(Top L) A shark fishing rod and harness used by Meng; (Top R) A shark fishing rod and line; (Bottom L) Meng-Killeen displays a piece of shark bait, often using bunker fish; (Bottom R) A drone owned by Meng-Killeen, which he uses to fly the bait hundreds of yards offshore. Courtesy of Christopher Meng-Killeen
He’s reeled in mako sharks, hammerheads, and tiger sharks. One time, he and his friends even caught a great white, though Meng-Killeen points out that he had to cut the line as soon as he saw what species it was, due to its protected status. But they captured very dramatic action of themselves with their rods bending as they reeled in their catch, and then lying on the back of the enormous fish as they tried to free the hook from its gaping jaws and tag it. They waded out to release the shark and to make sure it swam off.
Needless to say, it went viral.
“After learning what I learned in Florida, I wanted to bring that knowledge up to the northeast and kind of experiment and catching some of these pelagic cold water species,” Meng-Killeen said.
Meng-Killeen poses with a tiger shark he caught last spring break in Florida, months before graduating from Boston College. Courtesy of Christopher Meng-Killeen
Returning from his hiatus, Meng-Killeen completed his degree. Graduation is just days away, and he’s been looking for jobs in software development. However, with his dream job creating content while fishing already earning him an income, he’s not planning to give that up any time soon. He now has over 700,000 followers across all platforms, he says.
Meng-Killeen spent last spring break in Florida again, and this summer he’s going to hit up Maryland, New Jersey, and possibly New York for some shark fishing.
The mid-Atlantic is “kind of underdeveloped compared to Florida,“ he said, adding that with his new knowledge he hopes to start something. ”Cold water means more dissolved oxygen, and it means that they’re going to fight harder and be able to recover quicker once you release them.”
Meng-Killeen says he will also keep up with his tagging. He works alongside NOAA Fisheries in a Cooperative Shark Tagging Program, in which recreational anglers help fisheries learn more about the life history of sharks.
“I tagged a few dozen sharks overall,” he said. “I’ve always been a bit of a conservationist. I almost considered studying marine biology in college, before my parents convinced me to do computer science.”
Michael Wing
Editor and Writer
Michael Wing is a writer and editor based in Calgary, Canada, where he was born and educated in the arts. He writes mainly on culture, human interest, and trending news.
