Divers turn tables on 3m shark

By CLAIRE TREVETT

The tale of Blair Fraser and Marc Fraser's latest fishing trip sounds more like a horror flick than a spear-fishing jaunt.

The Albany pair, not related to each other, found themselves fleeing and then killing a 3m hungry shark before being marooned on a rock with it while its mates circled nearby.

The pair, both in their 30s, went up to Te Arai Pt, south of Mangawhai Heads, on Monday and ended up being carried off a rock by a rescue helicopter with one of their more interesting fishing stories yet.

Marc was waiting in a school of fish for a likely kingfish to appear when he was jerked backward through the water by the line attached to the buoy above him.

On the surface, Blair was wondering how he had performed such a feat.

Ten metres below, Marc was wondering the same thing.

"I looked back thinking it was Blair playing silly buggers because he is petrified of sharks. But Blair was in front of me."

A bronze whaler shark had bitten the buoy he was attached to and was pulling him backwards.

"I'm 6ft 5 and 112 kg and it was dragging me back like a freight train."

When the line went slack, he tried to get to the rocks, yelling "shark, shark".

Blair at first thought he was crying wolf.

"All the way up he had been hassling me about sharks because I hate seeing them. So I assumed he was doing it to scare me. I turned around slowly, going 'ha, ha, very funny'. Then I looked at his buoy and there was this massive fin there."

He looked around and saw another, bigger fin on his right, so he quickly made for the rocks, about 20m away.

Marc also made it to the rocks and he looked around wondering where the shark had gone.

"I looked down and the shark was coming back up at us.

"I tried to poke it with my spear but it didn't work so I shot it. By then it was right at the end of my flippers."

When Blair tried to shoot it to finish it off, he either missed or it ricocheted off, leaving his gear tangled about the shark.

Marc stabbed it twice and the second time the handle snapped off the knife, leaving the blade in the shark's head.

The men found themselves marooned on a rock, hoping help would arrive before the tide came in and submerged the rock.

They were later told by rescuers that a third shark had also been around the rocks.

When people on the beach saw them waving for help, they mistook the body of the shark for a human body, calling out ambulance and police.

The encounter left Blair and Marc with bruises, battered equipment and the body of the shark, which was taken to a taxidermist in Whangarei.

However, it has not put either of them off spearfishing again.

Blair planned to tackle the Rangitoto swim this weekend, but would be out spearfishing again next Sunday.

Bronze whalers

* Grow up to 4m long.

* Come into northern harbours to breed in the summer months and are often encountered by anglers at this time. A powerful fighter, these fish will sometimes jump clear of the water.

* Thought to be responsible for the last fatal shark attack in NZ, at Te Kaha in 1976.