Family's terror as bull shark jumps into tinny during fishing trip
Three young brothers have vowed to never go fishing with their old man again after a massive bull shark launched itself out of Queensland’s Prosperine River and into their tinny.
Local resident Ken Madsen was just about to call it a day when he saw the chaos unfolding out the corner of his eye.
“There was an almighty commotion and carry on, and the next thing I hear is ‘help, help’ and saw the tail end of the shark disappearing into the boat,” he told Sunshine Coast Daily.
When he realised it wasn’t just a sizeable fish, Mr Madsen launched his boat back into the water to go and help the understandably panicked Chapman family.
After the shark knocked out one of the seats into the river, the two youngest boys sought refuge at the other end of the boat.
Mr Madsen said even if they wanted to, there was no way the family could have lifted the 2.2 metre, 150kg shark out.
As if the experience wasn’t terrifying enough, when he eventually pulled up his boat to help escort the kids off, a seven-foot croc just happened to be lingering nearby.
The younger boys eventually made it onto Mr Madsen’s boat unscathed, while the eldest brother, Connor Chapman, stayed onboard with his dad as the boat was towed back into shore.
“Tell you what, that was the most frightening experience of my life,” he told 7 News.
Fellow fisherman Mark Norman arrived at the boat ramp as the chaos was wrapping up. He said the shark eventually made it back into the water, but conceded he didn’t love its chance of surviving.
“Fair to say they were very shaken by the ordeal,” he wrote on Facebook.
“It took a couple of blokes to get it out, as it weighed about 100 kilos, but most of their fishing rods were destroyed.
“I dragged it back into the river, but I think it was stuffed, and probably will become croc food.”
