--- title: Surfer Who Called Himself 'Shark Bait' Was Bitten By A Shark description: This tragedy was a self-fulfilling prophecy canonical: https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-10T20:08:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:20.954Z og:title: Surfer Who Called Himself 'Shark Bait' Was Bitten By A Shark og:description: He survived the incident, which was a self-fulfilling prophecy og:url: https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eda0200166f537e/6989412d656a3f23d5bd6331/sharkbaitattack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6876 og:image:height: 3868 og:image:alt: Underwater Animals Of Indian Ocean og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Surfer Who Called Himself 'Shark Bait' Was Bitten By A Shark twitter:description: He survived the incident, which was a self-fulfilling prophecy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eda0200166f537e/6989412d656a3f23d5bd6331/sharkbaitattack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Surfer Who Once Said He Was 'Shark Bait' Has Inevitably Been Bitten By a Shark > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7951cfc7-9ed6-4709-822a-42458e7dd1bb&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 10, 2018 8:08 PM UTC  Pictured Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) swimming in the waters of Indian Ocean on March 2018 in Fuvahmulah, Maldives. PHOTOGRAPH BY Andrey Nekrasov / Barcroft Images (Photo credit should read © Andrey Nekrasov / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Pictured Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) swimming in the waters of Indian Ocean on March 2018 in Fuvahmulah, Maldives. PHOTOGRAPH BY Andrey Nekrasov / Barcroft Images (Photo credit should read © Andrey Nekrasov / Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Barcroft Media—Barcroft Media via Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 10, 2018 8:08 PM UTC A surfer who had previously tempted fate by referring to himself as “[shark](http://time.com/4800792/how-sharks-became-so-scary/) bait” was hospitalized after a shark bit him. Joel Mason, 36, was out for an early morning surf at Scotts Beach about 300 miles north of Sydney when he was attacked by a shark. According to [Australia’s _Nine News_](https://www.9news.com.au/2018/12/09/09/33/shark-attack-man-suffers-severe-leg-injury-nambucca-heads)_,_ he managed to swim to safety and a passer-by saw him and called for help. He was treated at the scene and then flown to a nearby hospital for further treatment. He suffered a “severe leg injury” and “a lot of blood loss,” but is now in stable condition. Shark attacks are [extremely rare](http://time.com/5401636/shark-attacks-us/), even in Australia which has some of the highest number of reported shark bites. (According to [data from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo](https://taronga.org.au/conservation-and-science/australian-shark-attack-file#viewthemap), there have been 16 “unprovoked” [shark bite](http://time.com/5359695/great-white-shark-breach/) incidents in 2018\. ) Still, there is some risk of surfing in the ocean, and Mason reportedly was well aware of them. His father, Rob Mason, told _Nine News_ that his son has surfed since he was 5 or 6 years old, and loves to surf by himself, even though he knows there is potential danger. “He says he’s shark bait, but he’s prepared to take the risk — and he does,” he said. He added that he doesn’t expect the shark attack to change his son’s love of surfing: “He may not go surfing by himself as often (after the attack) but I figure he still will.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/"},"headline":"Surfer Who Once Said He Was 'Shark Bait' Has Inevitably Been Bitten By a Shark","datePublished":"2018-12-10T20:08:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:20.954Z","description":"This tragedy was a self-fulfilling prophecy","url":"https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Australia","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eda0200166f537e/6989412d656a3f23d5bd6331/sharkbaitattack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eda0200166f537e/6989412d656a3f23d5bd6331/sharkbaitattack.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Underwater Animals Of Indian Ocean","caption":"Human \"shark bait\" surfer gets attacked","creditText":"Barcroft Media—Barcroft Media via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5475699/shark-bait-attack/","name":"Surfer Who Once Said He Was 'Shark Bait' Has Inevitably Been Bitten By a Shark"}}]}] ```