Australian Hooks Monster Bull Shark on Popular River

Now here is one way to get the message across about sharks in your local waterway. An Australian fisherman recently hooked a 550-pound bull shark where people swim and ride jet skis.

Denis Rivers landed the massive bull shark on the Hastings River just 5 km from the river’s mouth in the suburban beach community of Port Macquarie. Rivers told The Daily Telegraph it was a spot where people typically swam,where even his own children liked to play in the shallows.

“They won’t be anymore,” he told the paper.

It was already past dark when the shark bit a piece of eel at the end of his line. The battle lasted about an hour, nearly running out of line on several occasions, before he finally got it to the shore. But he still needed help so he called on a man nearby to help him haul it up the boat ramp with his truck.

“I woke to the rod screaming and an hour later I had it up on the rocks,” he told local Channel 9 News.

Once on the shore, the group snapped a few photos with the giant measuring 3 meters long. Then they rolled it back into the river where it swam off.

“I jumped in with it again and swam it. It took a while to get going but it swam off all good,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Bull sharks have been involved in some of the most horrific shark attacks this season. Biologists say bull sharks are especially menacing because they have a high tolerance for freshwater, giving them range to come up river.

Photo credit: The Daily Telegraph