A family out on a fishing trip in New Zealand managed to capture some impressive footage of the moment they accidentally hooked a great white shark. You can see the video here:
Jason Bragg, his partner and his nephew Andre were out fishing on the Kaipara Harbour on Boxing Day hoping to catch themselves a couple of fish, but ended up hooking a lot more than they bargained for.
After looking at the fish finder, Bragg told his companions to ‘get ready’ as he saw a large fish approaching - thankfully, Bragg’s GoPro, which he’d only got the day before, was set up and rolling to capture what happened next.
He told the New Zealand Herald: "I looked over at my fish finder and I said 'get ready guys hear it comes', not knowing it was going to be a great white. The fish finder was unreal, it was like a sea of red.
"Then my missus looked at the fish finder and thought 'whoa'! So I got the GoPro set up and suddenly this thing came out of the water."
Andre managed to accidentally hook the great white, which looked to be around 3 metres long.
In the clip, you can see the shark leap through the air before crashing back into the water, while the anglers watched on in shock.
Speaking about the incident, he told the news outlet: “I just couldn't believe it. It's insane. I was in shock and I'm still in a bit of shock."
Bragg continued: "Far out! We all saw it just come out, teeth and everything.
"It rolled over and came crashing down in the water and then it was all over in seconds.
"I've fished hundreds of times and this has never happened to me for. It was huge! It came way out of the water."
Bragg told the Herald that the shark swam safely away completely unharmed by the encounter.
DOC Marine Scientist Clinton Duffy confirmed to the news outlet that it was indeed a great white and that it could have weighed up to a whopping 300kg.
She went on to say that capturing such clear footage was rare, adding that her colleagues would be ‘quite jealous’.
While it's not illegal to accidentally catch a white shark while out fishing, it must be released back into the ocean alive and unharmed, according to New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
Topics: Animals, World News, Fishing
Claire Reid