Twelve-year-old Nicholas Vossler knew what he needed after he was attacked by a shark off of Matagorda Island, Texas.

“Mom,” the boy gasped as his stunned mom held him in her arms, “you need to start praying.”

A tough sixth grader who pitches for his baseball team and was looking forward to the start of football practice, “Nicholas is one of the best fishermen I know,” says his father, Cecil Vossler. ”He often out-fishes most of the adults that go with us. He is always careful to wear his [sting]ray guards while we are wading, and always keeps his stringer [loaded with fish he’s caught] away from him [so as not to attract sharks].