Discovery Channel's Shark Week to feature Palm Beach shark encounter

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A routine spearfishing trip two years ago provided far more excitement than intended for Paul Dabill.

The 37-year-old West Palm Beach resident was barely five minutes into a solo fishing excursion off The Breakers Palm Beach when a 6-foot blacktip shark appeared.

The shark, perhaps angling for the fish Dabill had speared, began circling.

In response, Dabill turned on a camera he had attached to his speargun and began filming. He then grabbed his gun and began hitting the shark as it approached.

"I had the fish in my hand and was able to use the gun," said Dabill, who along with his brother, Tom, owns four Jimmy John's sandwich shops in Palm Beach County. "I used the shaft as a weapon to hit the shark as he came in for the fish.

"I didn't want to feed the shark the fish, because that could really get him riled up, and he could come after me at that point. I had to keep the shark off me and away from the fish. That was my goal."

For 13 minutes, Dabill fought off the shark as he swam to shore. His camera recorded everything.

"I decided that with all the crazy stuff happening, I was going to make an effort to film while it was happening," he said.

Dabill made it to shore safely and later posted his video to YouTube. Since then, more than 145,000 people have viewed the clip, including producers of the Discovery Channel show "When Fish Attack 2."

In January, they got in touch with Dabill and received permission to use the video for a segment of the show that will air next month during Shark Week.

The show will include Dabill's film footage as well as an on-camera interview conducted earlier this year.

"They flew out a camera crew in February or March to do their whole interview on the beach," said Dabill, who retains ownership of his video, though it was licensed for use by the Discovery Channel. "We recreated the scene."

The show will air Aug. 4 at 10 p.m.

Check out some video of the encouner below!