A former soldier hooked a 28lb tope shark at Coney Beach in Porthcawl
21:53, 25 Jun 2025Updated 21:57, 25 Jun 2025
Darren had went out for a short one hour fishing session, when he realised he had caught something big(Image: Darren Gregory)
Days after an angler caught a rare 40lb shark, another local fisherman has captured a second from the same species. Darren Gregory, 42 an ex-serviceman with the Royal Welsh was out fishing at the Coney Beach in Porthcawl, at around 9am today when he caught the 27lb tope shark.
Just as he pulled the shark out of the water, he could see people swimming in the water at the popular Welsh beauty spot.
Before he caught the shark, Darren, who now works as a wind-turbine technician had already caught a bass and a smalleyed ray.
Darren with his impressive catch(Image: Darren Gregory)
“I caught a 7lb bass and I had a small ray. I turned around to release the bass and my rod started running off with the reel,” Darren said. “So I looked into it and next thing you know a bl**dy shark fin came out of the water.
“I walked down and managed to get it onto the rocks and I lifted it out the water and I weighed it, obviously, and it was 28lb.”
Darren was introduced to fishing at the age of 10 by his father, who he says was a ‘fanatical fisherman.’ However, this is not the place he usually finds sharks. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
“I’m a regular fisherman. I normally go down west for the sharks,” he said. “But because I’d seen in Wales Online that there were sharks being caught around our coast, I went down just fishing normally, and I ducked into one. It was like a torpedo and it started going out to sea.”
Darren’s eight-pound catch(Image: Darren Gregory)
Darren was convinced that it was a shark at the other end of the line as soon as he hooked it, and had to work extra hard to catch it.
“Once I hooked into it, I knew it was a shark and my heart was up and I had a bit of nerves going on as you do when you’re fishing, that’s why we do it, but I enjoyed it,” Darren said. “With a shark, you’ve just got to hold on and hope it doesn’t take all the line.
“It’s the way you play it, you’ve got your drag which you’ve got to set and then if the fish runs, and it takes a line, then you’re able to reel in and catch up with the fish and keep the tension on.”
Darren usually goes to west Wales to catch sharks but says they’re being sighted closer to home these days.
“There seem to be a lot coming from our shores locally now, but yes, it was a shock to get it local because I mean I’m only two minutes up the road, I just went out for an hour session that’s all,” he said. “They’re not the type of sharks that’ll harm anyone anyway, it’s just that to see them in this close is very rare.”
Darren with the smalleyed ray that he caught(Image: Darren Gregory)
Darren stresses that it is important to release sharks back into the water if and when they are caught.
“The only advice I got is to just hold on and make sure that the fish goes back without any harm. There’s no need to harm the fish. I mean they’re just here for the feed anyway, but we do it for the sport,” Darren said. “That’s the place they live. What’s the point in harming a fish that’s just out to feed.
“This is where they live but a lot of people, a lot of fishermen target these fish, and it’s a trophy fish at the end of the day. That’s why it’s such a lovely, lovely species, just to see it and hold it. It is quite a proud moment to catch a fish like that and then to see a release knowing that it’s going to fight another day.”
Last week, a Swansea angler, Alex McGlynn caught a tope shark off the Swansea Bay. He too, was concerned with the shark being found so close inshore, and believed that overfishing and climate change might be to blame.