A LONG weekend fishing trip provided a group of amateur fishermen with a bigger shock than expected when a great white shark circled their boat near Brown Beach on June 3.
Keen to catch a feed on Saturday, Mount Gambier’s Dani McKinnon and Andrew Russell were joined by Coleraine visitors Colin and Darcy Russell on the water.
The group cruised around two kilometres off the shore of Brown Beach and faced an unexpected visitor at around 2.30pm.
The great white, also known as a white pointer shark, was described by witnesses as around four metres in length and circled the boat for close to 10 minutes.
Ms McKinnon said it was an unbelievable sight.
“We were out there fishing school and gummy sharks and had all been around numerous shark species before, but nothing like this, so when the great white came along we were in awe,” she said.
“It was incomparable to anything I had seen before, it was absolutely huge.”
She said the shark caused the boat to rock.
“At one point it got hold of the motor and gave it a shake then rubbed its head along the side of the boat and flicked it with its tail,” Ms McKinnon said.
“That part was scary, it shook the boat so hard I had to hold on,” Ms McKinnon said.
“It was absolutely unreal, there are scratches on the motor from the shark’s teeth.”
Aside from a few tooth marks to remind them of the ordeal, the boat, owned by Andrew, was not damaged during the sighting.
He spotted the shark initially.
“We were all fishing together in the boat when Andrew saw a big brown patch heading towards the boat and called out to us,” Ms McKinnon said.
“Once it got closer someone identified the shark as a white pointer and we all just stood there in awe of this huge creature, it looked so majestic in the water.
“Safe to say I will not be surfing at Brown Beach anymore.”
Last October, Mount Gambier paddleboarder Terry Frost spotted a great white shark around 50m from the shore at Brown Beach, sparking concerns among surfers in the area.
The sighting was one of two reported to Shark Watch South Australia on the day.
