A madcap Aussie fisherman has been filmed playing tug of war with an angry great white shark, thought to be 270kg. David Wilks, 46, wasn’t fazed when the cheeky white pointer grabbed his net in its mouth as he fished off the coast of Port Pirie, South Australia, in December 2016.
The dad of five’s son Nic, 20, captured the unbelievable footage of the estimated 10ft animal refusing to let go even after Wilks jabbed it on the nose and attempted to pull the net from its clutches.
Game store worker and musician Nic, who also works with his dad as a fisherman, told Caters News: “We had set out net off to catch snapper when we realised there was a white pointer swimming inside and eating the fish.”
Speaking of his dad’s attempt to get the net back, he said:
Dad was just holding on to the net trying to pull it from the shark. Every time he pulled the net the shark wouldn’t let go. This went on for about a minute or so. It was like playing tug of war with a dog.
We didn’t want him getting tangled as they’re a protected species so dad tried to roll him out of the net, but he stayed swimming around and as the circle got smaller he got caught once again.
Wilks then tried to jab its nose— a particularly sensitive spot for the creatures—to stun it into swimming away. But it wasn’t until the fisherman loosened his grip that the great white shark finally let go.
Nic added:
I was really impressed by the way he handled the whole situation because it could have been a lot worse. All the fish could have been let out of the net, and if the shark had got into the boat or one of us had fallen into the water it might’ve been different.
Not many people can say they’ve played tug of war with one of the most deadliest creatures on earth!
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