Oscar Ford had a feeling he was reeling in something extraordinary.
Yet, he could hardly believe his eyes when he realized it was a great white shark.
While on a fishing trip near Barwon Heads on Sunday, the Victorian carpenter, accompanied by three cousins—including two young amateurs—unexpectedly hooked the massive predator.
“It’s a white shark, holy smokes! I can’t believe I caught a white shark off Barwon Heads!” Ford exclaimed, as the cameras rolled, documenting his thrilling encounter.
He spent over thirty minutes wrestling with the mighty creature to bring it closer to the boat.
Every intense moment of this unforgettable adventure was recorded, thanks to a setup of GoPro cameras capturing the action from start to finish.
“He’s biting the boat, get that on film, get that on film,” he can be heard saying.
The fishers even dunked one of the cameras into the water for an incredible closer look at the beast.
“I was just in disbelief, I was like this is insane, I would never have thought this would happen,” Ford told 9News.
“I had so much emotion, so much adrenaline running through me.
“I was feeling a million different emotions, I was feeling on top of the world.”
Ford pushed off Ocean Grove early on Sunday to fish for tuna but switched to a snapper mark near Barwon Heads after a quiet few hours to set a bait balloon.
“We chucked it out and 45 minutes later we see a fin sort of just circling the balloon and then out of nowhere it just started splashing the water, going crazy,” he said.
Great whites are a protected species so Ford never brought his catch on board, cutting it loose to go free.
“As soon as we saw it we were going crazy, it was just such an amazing experience to see such a big beautiful animal,” he said.
