Ryan Selvey was fishing with his friends on K’gari Island two weeks ago when something took hold of his fishing line.
He told 9news.com.au it was a bucket list goal to catch a shark but had no idea this would be the day he did.
“I paddled a bait out on the surfboard around 250 to 300 metres and dropped it,” he said.
A little while later Selvey felt a tug on his line and as soon as he set the drag he knew it was a big catch.
“It’s the most drag I’ve ever put on a fish,” he said.
With the help of his mates, they pulled the enormous tiger shark into knee-deep water.
“I was pretty stoked,” he said.
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“It’s the happiest I’ve been with a fish in all my life.
“It was a team effort and all the boys were stoked and overjoyed.”
Selvey said the shark weighed about 400 kg and was more than three metres in length.
”It was missing tip of tail looked like a mating scar or an old attack where another shark had bitten it off,” he added.
The group kept the shark in knee-deep water for about 90 seconds before dragging it back out to the ocean when it swam away “strongly”.
“Heaps of people stopped to watch, there were lots of cheers,” he said.
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