A friend once caught a tiger shark from Shorncliffe pier on an alvey sidecast and a 10kg rod. At the time of capture, the bloke was relatively new to shark fishing and so was limited in terms of equipment. He had the alvey loaded with 80lb mono and in his wisdom took the bait out to within a few remaining wraps on the reel, bait was a whole mullet. When the shark took the bait it proceeded to head in toward the jetty rather than out to sea. This allowed for much of the line to be regained before it realsied it was hooked. Suffice to say, when this realisation was made that alvey and rod were stretched to the limit. At one point I had a turn on the rod and I could feel that even the handle was bending.
Anyways, some time later the fish emerged, tail wrapped and facing backward, those stripes easily identifiable. The fish was landed and weighed on certified scales. Amazingly it weighed in at 207kg, just on 10 feet in length. Even though the line was heavy I still rate the capture, that rod and reel were much better suited to casting pillies and prawns under the pier than chasing tigers.
Twas a great catch.
Cheers
James
