A 6-year-old boy earned second place in a South Jersey fishing competition as well as Internet fame after he was caught on video reeling in an enormous bass.

Sam Adams, a first-grade student from Pitman, New Jersey, was surf fishing in Long Beach Township Friday when he caught something big on the line. Sam’s grandfather began to record as the boy struggled to bring in a massive striped bass.

“I’m tiring him out!” Sam shouts in the video.

“You’re tiring him out but don’t get cocky,” his grandfather replies.

Finally, after a fight that lasts several minutes, Sam reels in the big catch, a 41-pound, 5-ounce striper. The fish weighed only two pounds less than Sam and was only a quarter-inch shorter than the 47-inch tall boy.

“He did say his arms went numb at one point during the fight,” Sam’s father Scott Adams told NBC10.

The 9-minute clip of the boy’s battle with the bass was posted on YouTube and has been viewed more than 31,000 times so far.

“I’m just thankful my dad video’d it because a lot of people didn’t believe without that video that a kid his size could catch that fish,” Scott Adams said. “It’s just amazing. We go fishing a lot. I’m really proud of him.”

The catch put Sam in second place in the annual LBI Surf Fishing Classic, a tournament which runs through December 6. Sam has been an avid angler since he was 2-years-old.

“I don’t know where you go from here,” Scott Adams said. “A whale maybe. It’s just unbelievable.”



