HUGE SHARK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 26 April 1937, Page 7

HUGE SHARK

CAUGHT OFF SYDNEY HEADS NEW WORLD’S RECORD SYDNEY, 12th April. The biggest shark ever caught with rod and reel was captured off Sydney Heads yesterday afternoon by Dr Erik Fischer, the Consul for Denmark in Sydney. It was a tiger shark, weighing 10491 b —l3lb more than the shark caught last year by Mr Zane Grey, who has thus lost the world’s record. When measured at the Watson’s Bay ferry wharf, Dr Fischer’s shark was found to be 13 feet long, with a girth of 6 feet 8 inches. A man’s body could have passed easily through the enormous jaws.

“I am sore in every muscle,” said Dr Fischer last night, “but it was worth it. It was the fight of my life. I spent an hour and a half in bringing the shark alongside, and during that time it towed our 20-foot launch backwards for nearly a mile. “We were three miles off North Head when the shark took the bait, about 3 p.m. Like all tiger sharks, it tried to break the line by diving very deeply, instead of fighting on the surface. I knew from the start I had something out of the ordinary, but I scarcely expected a world’s record.” Last night, the shark hung from the huge wooden stand which has been specially erected at the Watson’s Bay wharf for such catches. A big crowd stood round it until a late hour, and several attempts were made to examine the teet!-., but spasmodic movements of the jaws warned the curious against coming too close. Dr Fischer’s shark was 10 inches shorter than that caught by Mr Zane Grey, but was enormous in the girth. Fishermen attach significance to the fact that both these sharks were tiger .harks, and that they were caught at the same point of the coast and at the same time of the year.