489kg tiger shark caught 2011

[Shimanobwoie]

I was on facebook and notice a rapala photo on the recent posts. It was a photo of a massive tiger shark caught at a comp in bermagui. The fish weighed in at 489kg or 1078lbs. At first glimpse i thought to myself is this legal?? but as i write this i had a quick look into the NSW fishing rules and regulations and its legal.

Its just a shame that something that big had to be killed but on the otherside as a game fisho people often take marlin for the same reason.

Whats your opinion on taking a large game fish?

[Keen-as-fisho]

Honestly I don't care as long as it is used resourcefully like food, fish fingers etc and not dumped at the local tip.

[keen_as]

Yeah I just got the message on my account. It would've been nice to see it photographed and/or videoed and released. I mean what the hell can you do with that much shark?

Just my opinion.

[rosstralia46]

yer after catching something that large or a marlin i would feel honoured by the fight and relese it but as KAF said as long as it is used resoursefully like i know in islands like figi they keep the marlin to feed whole families and that which seems fair to me

[Greenmachine]

yer after catching something that large or a marlin i would feel honoured by the fight and relese it but as KAF said as long as it is used resoursefully like i know in islands like figi they keep the marlin to feed whole families and that which seems fair to me

Ditto

[Manni79]

I saw the photo on FB, what a monster !!!!!

I agree with most comments about a couple happy snaps & releasing it, however it's worth thinking about the time it would take to wrestle that beast to the boat and what effect it would have on the shark, that beast would be extremely exhausted... would it have survived? how do you help swim a fish that size and release it?

It's a tricky situation..... at the end of the day my jaw is still on the ground from how big that shark is !!!!!

[darcy]

monster. suprised they kept it though i bet it would have been wasted. A shark that size would taste terrible i imagine not to mention the hours and hours of filleting. For me sharks have been by far been the easiest fish to release.

[Malcolm]

can anyone put the pic up on here

[Manni79]

[banksy]

What a waste great piece of nature

hell im that old i even give grinners a second chance

[woody1]

Jeez that is a serious shark! and an awesome photo. I think it would have looked much better swimming around tho. I remember a story about a kid that caught a 1000lb+ marlin, killed it to weigh for the world record, then towed it out and watched sharks eat it... What a waste. I dont think it's really worth killing suck an awesome animal just for a record, but I suppose I might think differently if it could be my name in the record books

[Jords]

Jeez that is a serious shark! and an awesome photo. I think it would have looked much better swimming around tho. I remember a story about a kid that caught a 1000lb+ marlin, killed it to weigh for the world record, then towed it out and watched sharks eat it... What a waste. I dont think it's really worth killing suck an awesome animal just for a record, but I suppose I might think differently if it could be my name in the record books

A mate of mine landed a 700lb marlin, killed it then dumped it. But then again it did get mown over by their prop so was pretty dead, still seems like a shame

[Do$tylz]

nah not worth killing for a namesake in my opinion. When they're that big, I think they've earned it to stay a bit longer.

Great catch though...

[Jords]

The story from the fb page:

The Band of Brothers Production crew fished at the Canberra Yellowfin Tournament at Bermagui over the weekend 14/15 May, 2011.

The crew fished aboard “Reel Game†as Team Okuma after a lengthy re-fit out of the 24ft Caribbean, which saw an overhaul of the whole boat head to toe.

Day one was cancelled due to a Gale Warning, however day two was much nicer than the forecast predicted. The crew, consisting of Capt. Dennis Minuti, Anthony Raco, Aqua Pucciarelli and Iain Houlford ventured out to the thousand fathom line where they found a floating dead seal. After a few laps, a school of hungry tiger sharks revealed themselves to feed off the seal carcass. The guys watched on in awe as the Tigers demolished the seal, taking it in turns to take chunks out of the 150kg carcass.

A Striped Tuna was promptly sliced up and two baits were set out-one next to the seal and another 30 metres down. After two hours of the Tigers carefully avoiding the baits, a large tiger gave in to the Striped Tuna temptation- surprisingly the deeper one. After a 3 hour fight on an Okuma Makaira 50W- mostly on sunset, the fish was subdued and brought close to the boat. Anthony latched on to the trace and held on for dear life. Aqua sank the gaffs and the fish was secured.

Several attempts were made to boat the fish, but it was simply too big. After a long 3 hour ride back to the weigh station, the fish later pulled the scales down to 489kg or 1078lbs- the first official grander for Team Okuma and Reel Game. The fish secured the crew the Heaviest Shark Category in the Tournament.

What a great way for the boat to return to action!

[madmullet]

i was talking to Shimanobwoie about this yesturday on f.b, and would love to when it was caught.

and if you catch what you think is a record breaking shark, and its over the legal length, are you allowed to take it????????????????????????

i am all for targeting large gamfish, if it is done correctly. when we used to do it we sold they meat and the fins, gave the guts and left overs to some of my pro crabber mates and kept the jaws, but wastefull dumping, thats not rite.

[eg_vtec]

thats massive! if it was me, i would of releaesed it. its much too big to prepare and might find human remains inside :whistle: