What a whopper catch - a 380kg great white shark

By SCOTT INGLIS

Mark Cameron and Tony King went out on the Kaipara Harbour to catch snapper - but came back with a 380kg great white shark.

It is one of the heaviest great whites ever caught in New Zealand waters.

On Saturday morning, the two dairy farmers from Ruawai, northwest of Auckland, were out in a friend's aluminium 4.1m runabout.

Within 20 minutes they had hooked six fish but then something else took Mr Cameron's bait, hook, line and sinker.

It turned out to be a female great white shark, just over 3m long.

"It just ambled away ... and when it realised something was attached to the bait in its mouth, it went like a rocket."

For the next 90 minutes, Mr Cameron, using a game rod with 37kg breaking strain line - 700m of it - fought the shark while Mr King headed for shore.

Mr Cameron was worried that the shark might snap the line but he was not scared.

"Apprehensive would be the choice of word.

"It broke the surface once ... and the heart went into palpitations for a while."

They beached the shark at Tinopai, before towing it back to Ruawai boat ramp.

"These big fish don't cope well in shallow water and it literally just drowned."

They stripped the shark of its meat, which will be eaten.

"They are a beautiful fish and it would be a shame to just chuck it into a hole."

The jaws would be kept and possibly professionally mounted.

At 382.5kg, the shark is the heaviest caught in New Zealand on a 37kg line and close to the world record of 413kg.

The catch was the latest close encounter between sharks and humans in New Zealand waters.

A leaping shark had a Torbay couple reaching for a "weapon" - their runabout's spare anchor - while they fished in the Rangitoto Channel last month.

A white pointer tipped a kayaker out of his boat at Whananaki, off the Northland east coast.

Great whites have been seen several times this summer.

Herald Online Marine News