Australian Anglers Land Giant Tiger Sharks

Two Australian anglers set their sights on massive sharks and hit the jackpot this month during an outing along the beach near Carnarvon.

During a four-day outing Jethro Bonnitcha and Joshua Butterworth hooked and landed 10 giant tiger sharks, with the largest exceeding 16 feet in length.

The two men have refined their technique for catching big sharks, which led to their impressive catch. They use kayaks to set the lines about 100 yards from shore. Then when the sharks hit, they reel them in from shore, using beach rods.

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“There’s no shortage of sharks up there, numbers are getting up,” Butterworth told the West Australian.  “At one point we had caught a shark each and Jethro had his on the shore and a third shark swam in and tried to get the bait.”

 

A photo posted by 2JB Fishing (@josh_butterworth) on

The pair felt that some of their catches could have been records, but they were not trying to get their names in the record books. They practiced catch-and-release, doing their best to release the fish unharmed. During their years of fishing for big sharks, they have become adept at reeling the big sharks in quickly, photographing them and releasing them, to ensure their survival.

“They all went back in the water,” said Butterworth. “If we had killed them and brought them in they might have been record land based catches.”

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This is not the duo’s first brush with big sharks. Earlier this year, the pair caught 30 sharks during a 10-day trip near Carnarvon.

Photo credit: Instagram @Josh_Butterworth

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