A Sydney teenager has hooked a 2.8-metre bull shark while fishing in Middle Harbour over the weekend.
He told Mosman Collective it took 45 minutes to completely reel the massive animal in.
"It only yook a few seconds to work out that I'd hooked something pretty big, the thing nearly pulled me into the water," he said.
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"It was insane."
He said he was surprised by the creature's rough skin and 'tiny little eyes' and observed that in their natural habitt, bull sharks are nothing like the ones you see at Sydney Aquarium.
"At first we thought it was 2.5 metres, but when we measure it, the thing was 2.8 metres, and I reckon it was easily 140 kilograms."
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Sydney's Harbour is said to be 'teeming' with bull sharks at the moment 'after a bumper breeding season'.
"It was a massive catch, that's for sure," Hodge said.
"I guess it's proof of how healthy Sydney Harbour is.
"The warm currents have brought so many sharks into the Harbour this year. They are everywhere."
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The teenager is a regular fisherman and is part of the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) tagging program, which tags various fish species to track their growth patterns, movement habits and interactions with other species, and is used to understand and manage fish populations.
Unfortunately, however, he didn't have the entirely correct equipment to get the job done.
"I only had tuna and kingfish tags in my fishing gear, so I had to use one of them on the shark," he told Mosman Collective.
"The details of the capture are written on a tag card with a corresponding number and then sent back to DPI.
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"So there's a shark out there in Sydney Harbour wearing a tuna tag," he said.
Hodge admitted both he and his conquest were both exhausted by the time the contest was over, but said he'd be back on the water as soon as school knocks off on Friday.
Featured Image Credit: Mosman CollectiveTopics: Sharks, News, Australia