Incredible moment when a fisherman reels in a giant bull shark in front of horrified tourists before bravely pulling a hook from its mouth and releasing it: ‘Why I’ll never swim in the harbour’
- Bull shark caught in Sydney harbour
- Angler reeled it in as shocked tourists watched
- Bull sharks are among the most aggressive species
A brave fisherman has come face to face with a huge bull shark after managing to reel it in in front of horrified tourists.
Sydneysider and veteran fisherman Jordan had paddled in a kayak to the center of the harbor to throw a whole frozen red mullet into the water to lure the shark before retreating behind the walls of the Royal Botanic Gardens to enter it. to fetch.
Onlookers passing by watched in amazement as he slowly coiled the shark close enough to shore to free the barb from its mouth and release it in front of the Sydney Harbor Opera House.
Despite the relative ease with which Jordan caught it, bull sharks are one of the most aggressive shark species in the world and are responsible for the highest number of fatal attacks on humans.
Jordan paddled out in a kayak and threw an entire frozen mullet into the harbor to lure the bull shark (pictured) before reeling it in from the Botanic Gardens
He slowly rolled the shark close enough to shore so that it could remove the barb from its mouth and release it
Jordan told Daily Mail Australia that he had never fished in the harbor before but decided to give it a try after seeing others catch sharks themselves.
“It took five to 10 minutes to reel the bull shark in once it took the bait and one minute to release the shark after the hook was pulled, after which it swam away strongly,” he said.
“I couldn’t really understand what the tourists around me were saying because of the language barrier, but they were very intrigued by what was going on.”
Jordan’s iconic fisherman look — including balancing on the dull wooden pole next to him while wearing a Bunnings jersey — was embraced by people who watched the video online.
“Barefoot, with a mullet and in front of the opera house you can get even more Aussie,” one wrote.
The person who filmed it, called Sarks Total Fishing and whose name is Sarkis, told Daily Mail Australia that he had just met the fisherman catching the shark that day before offering to lend him a hand.
“I met him new there and I was fishing for other species at the time, when he landed the shark I helped him,” he said.
Sarkis said he caught many Port Jackson sharks in the harbor – some as big as five feet.
Earlier this year, another fisherman named James Murray caught a monstrous ten-foot-long bull shark after a 25-minute fight near the same part of the harbour.
“Barefoot, with a mullet and in front of the Opera House you can get even more Aussie,” one user wrote online
James Murray also reeled in a monstrous ten-foot bull shark while fishing in Sydney Harbor in January 2023 (pictured)
Mr Murray tagged the beast so other fishermen could watch its growth before releasing it back into the harbor to ‘live another day’.
He also revealed how swimming in the harbor was a “pretty bad idea,” especially from December to early March when bull sharks enjoy warmer waters.
“It could eat you if you fall into the water. I would avoid it by staying out of Sydney Harbor,” Murray told 2GB.
These recent catches come after the NSW government opened its first Sydney Harbor ‘beach’ in decades in January this year.
The netted public harbor swimming spot is located in Marrinawi Cove on the north side of the Barangaroo Reserve.
A database compiled by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia ranks bull sharks third – after tiger sharks and great white sharks – for the number of recorded shark attacks on humans with 148 in Australia since the 1900s.