'Surprise' shark caught off Bay of Plenty beach

The Tauranga Land Based Fishing group said the "surprise" shark was spotted just off Papamoa yesterday afternoon. Photo: Tauranga Land Based Fishing / Facebook

A man who caught a blue shark off a Papamoa beach says he was actually targeting bronze whalers but is thrilled to have landed the "amazing" species.

A close-up snap of the blue shark was posted online after its capture in the Bay of Plenty on Sunday afternoon.

Tauranga Land Based Fishing organiser Jackson Brown said the "surprise" shark was spotted just off Papamoa.

"We were targeting bronze whalers. We had seen six throughout the day. Visibility was good as we could see them swimming to about 20 meters out," he told the Herald.

"The blue shark turned up on the last bait. It was a short fight and we were more surprised than anything as blue sharks are very uncommon off the beach. It was a species ticked off the list as I wanted to catch one this season.

"An amazing shark to see up close and was safely returned to the sea."

The shark weighed about 80kg -- "a smaller one", he said.

A picture of the shark surfaced on the fishing group's Facebook page yesterday.

Fat Boy Charters owner and fisherman Russ Hawkins of Mt Maunganui said blue sharks were quite common in the Western Bay of Plenty at this time of year.

Although the area was popular with swimmers, blue sharks, nicknamed "gumboots", were usually harmless to people and docile, Mr Hawkins said.

Bronze whalers were probably the most common species in the area at this time of year, he said.

Mr Hawkins said he'd seen mako and blue sharks several times in the past five days when taking boats out.

"We had a big blue round the boat two days ago. But we have had them in closer as well."

Papamoa fisherman Bruce Glass said bronze whalers were more common than blue sharks at this time of year.

"We don't have too many problems with sharks here generally."

Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, describes blue sharks as "sleek and slender" with long pectoral fins.

Te Ara says a young blue shark that might be 2m long would weigh less than 40kg: "Their movement is sinuous, and thanks to their streamlined form they are among the fastest of sharks."