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Press, 10 January 1987, Page 1

This mako shark with toothache gave a New Plymouth fisherman some heart-stopping moments when it was hooked off Port Taranaki. The mako, which weighed in at 211 kg, charged Barry Urwln’s boat Tye during a 30mlnute battle about two miles off. the port, the Press Association reports. ./ The owner of the 5,4 m boat was trolling with a kahawai when the shark struck. “We watched it come up behind the fish, poke its heat? about two feet out of the' water and swallow the lot;” - Mr UrwinSaid. ”7: The mako dived, .surfaced again fake a look at us,” then dived again. “He came up again about 80 metres away then ran straight at the boat,” Mr Urwin said. As the battle continued, the mako towed

the boat forwards, backwards and sideways. Mr Urwin eventually played the shark out then found it was too big and heavy to lash to the side of h<s craft. He called to a bigger boat nearby for assistance, and it towed the mako to shore for weighing. ■ Once ashore, Mr Urwin discovered his mako had good reason to be bad-tempered. The fish had a stingray tail embedded in the side of its jaw, evidence of an earlier encounter. The mako measured 3.6 m in length, weighed 211 kg, and was caught on 24kg tackle. The average New Zealand mako weighs 70kg to 140 kg, and is up to 3.5 m. long. But they can grow to far heavier weights than the mako caught off Taranaki. The New Zealand all-tackle record is 481.24 kg, while the New Zealand record for 24kg line is 317 kg, set off Whangaroa in 1978.