On a slow day of fishing, it's often what else that happens on the trip that makes the memories. Case in point, fishermen, Ken Gerke and David Barwise were doing their thing when a very big great white shark decided to come in and check them out.
Off the coast of Urunga in New South Wales, Australia, one of the largest great whites either angler had ever seen gave them a little more than what they were expecting. Just check out this video and see if it doesn't remind you of something out of "Jaws."
Watch the video below:
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
While this must've been an awesome experience, it's enough for me to stay out of the deep blue sea. The largest shark I've seen in person was about an 8-foot mako. Seeing it come in to the boat we were on was amazing and terrifying at the same time. If I was on a kayak and had a great white shark like that come in on me, I don't think I could've taken it.
Sure you'll find plenty of sharks in Florida, but Australian waters have some the biggest great whites on the planet. Taking the chance and being a statistic doesn't interest me at all. Australia is involved in several shark attacks every year. That alone would greatly inspire me to stay out of the salt. There's plenty of freshwater fishing to be had that doesn't involve face-to-face contact with the largest predatory fish in the ocean.
You have to admit, though, that underwater footage taken by the second angler is just flat-out eerie, so thank you, Dave Barwise. Thankfully, this great white shark never seemed aggressive like it was ever going to to attack. Regardless, though, these animals are man-eaters and I've seen Shark Week on Discovery Channel. I know how they can breach and a kayak wouldn't do much to stop one that was hungry.
Yep, not this guy.
