8-year-old catches piranha during lake fishing trip with his dad

RIDLEY PARK, Pa. (WPVI) - A regular weekend fishing trip for a father and son from Pennsylvania took an irregular turn when the son caught something unusual in the lake.

State officials said it points to a larger problem.

When 8-year-old Seamus Coffey started reeling in his catch on Saturday morning during a fishing trip with his dad at Ridley Park Lake, he knew he’d hooked something big.

“I’m wearing it, and I think there’s a bass,” Seamus said.

His dad, Michael Coffey, was right next to him as he reeled it in.

“I was like, ‘Slow down, dude. You might lose it.’ This looks like something we haven’t caught before,” he said.

But Seamus and his dad could never have expected what they found on the other end of the line.

“I was like, ‘Oh, it’s like a bluegill. I don’t know what this is.’ And he said, ‘It’s a piranha,’” Coffey said.

Seamus said that he had learned about piranhas from YouTube.

Mike Parker of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission confirmed that Seamus knew what he was talking about.

“Our biologists have confirmed that this is some species of piranha,” Parker said.

While the surprise catch gave the father-son fishing duo one heck of a story, Parker said the way the piranha ended up there to begin with is evidence of a larger issue.

“I think a lot of times people do, you know, they have a dream. I want to own an exotic fish or a snake or an alligator and it’s cute when it’s small, but maybe they can’t afford that or house it anymore and they decide maybe this is someone else’s problem,” Parker said.

Parker said the tropical fish, native to South America, wouldn’t have survived in Pennsylvania waters for very long.

“So, we ended up getting rid of it humanely,” Coffey said.

That was the right move, according to Parker. He said the piranha was dangerous to the public and could have been disruptive to the ecosystem.

“Even if the law says that you’re allowed to own an exotic pet, whether that be a fish or a reptile, you’re not allowed to introduce that species into the wilds of Pennsylvania, so that is unlawful. You can be fined, prosecuted,” Parker said.

As for the fearless fisherman Seamus, he said he wasn’t scared of the razor-toothed predator at all, and his number-one hobby remains unchanged.

“Fishing is my favorite thing,” he said.

“We’ve had some crazy fishing experiences, but that’s definitely number one,” Coffey said.

Parker said it’s pretty unlikely that there is more than one piranha in the lake.