Aussie kayaker stunned by run-in with shark: 'F*** that's big'
An Aussie fisherman nearly became the catch during a close encounter with a shark off the Gold Coast this week.
Renowned kayaking fisherman Chris Carney said he was paddling as much as three kilometres from the shore on Friday when he got lucky reeling in a fairly sizeable mackerel near Palm Beach reef.
But that far out from land, the fisherman didn't quite realise he wasn't alone.
A shark seemingly had other ideas, with the large animal suddenly appearing just inches from his boat and taking a big bite out of the fish as he tried to pull it in.
Mr Carney who filmed the tense moment with a camera attached to his head was clearly shocked by the sudden competition.
"F*** that's big ... that's a big shark!" he exclaimed.
He later told 9News Gold Coast that he was "on my own out there, three kilometres offshore".
"It can all go pear-shaped very quickly," he added, describing the moment as "scary".
The die-hard fisherman – whose kayaking exploits have made headlines in the past when he reeled in a huge marlin from his little boat – said the close encounter won't discourage him from getting back out on the deep water in his chosen vessel.
Not everyone shares his enthusiasm, however. "That’s a pretty dumb thing to do," one person commented on Facebook.
"3 kms off shore in a kayak. No thanks," another said, while a third person also wondered "Why would you go out to sea in a kayak ?".
It's not the first time an Aussie kayaking fisherman has been up close-and-personal with a shark this year. In August, south Australian angler Matthew Gorne was off the coast of Port Augusta when he saw a large great white shark head straight for his boat. While he was ultimately unharmed, the nerve-racking encounter was caught on his GoPro camera.
Australian Marine Conservation Society shark expert Dr Leonardo Guida told Yahoo News Australia at the time that sharks are "very curious animals", reminding us that "we can't necessarily predict what a wild animal will do".
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