Fisherman’s ‘chaotic’ battle with shark over 115kg fish of a lifetime

A charter fisherman has detailed the “chaotic” moment his two-hour battle with a “fish of a lifetime” almost came to a devastating end thanks to a very hungry — and bold — shark. Nick Moulas was enjoying a day off with his two deckhands, Jye and Tyler, last week when the crew’s leisurely morning on the boat suddenly turned into a “huge fight.”

The skipper, who runs Shell Cove Fishing Charters in Shellharbour, NSW, told Yahoo News the trio were a couple of hours into the trip when they saw movement in the water. “We found a fish jumping on the surface and pretty much drove over to him and hooked up almost instantly,” he said.

“Then the fun began — the fight to get that trophy fish,” he laughed. “We knew it was a big one when it nearly emptied the spool.”

Mako shark threatens fisherman’s battle for huge fish

On the other end of the line was a roughly 130kg bluefin tuna that was determined not to go down easy.

Nick, Jye and Tyler were able to reel it in close to the boat after 60 minutes of “good runs and nice, deep dives”, but the fish quickly took off “another 200 to 300 meters of line”. An hour later, the crew pulled the tuna back to the vessel before it suddenly “went straight down” — a mako shark had joined the battle.

“It was pretty cool. Wild fight,” Nick told Yahoo, adding the apex predator weighed an estimated 200-250kg.

Moments later, the shark popped up on the surface with the fish in its mouth. “It was bit of a wrestle…you’ve got blood in the water and this angry mako shark coming right up to the boat trying to find out where his tuna has gone,” the skipper said.

The shark was able to make off with “nearly half a meter of its tail” — about 10 to 15kg of fish. “That was pretty impressive to me,” Nick added.

Having lost a few fish to sharks in the days before, the crew were thrilled to end their “drought” with a “beauty”, despite it missing a chunk. Bloody images posted to the Shell Cove Fishing Charters Facebook page show Jye and Tyler lifting up the massive bluefin, which has clearly been bitten.

Fishers racing sharks almost every day

Nick’s lucky catch highlights an issue that professional fishers claim has become a frequent occurrence in Aussie waters. Last month, Richard Gilmore, who runs Pristine Reef Fish predominantly out of Cairns, told Yahoo News he is “racing” sharks almost every day.

“And a lot of the sharks we’re dealing with are big sharks. They’re up there upwards of 100 kilos quite often.”

Over the past 10 years, the number of sharks in the Great Barrier Reef have increased exponentially, Gilmore said, describing “shark interaction” as “phenomenal these days.” The fisherman said the high chance of a shark encounter has made some areas impossible to work in, forcing him to change areas and target species often.

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