An 8-year-old boy reeled in a fish of a lifetime—a 692-pound tiger shark that was nearly eight times his own weight—and it will be a smallfry world record, assuming the International Game Fish Association approves it.
Jayden Millauro, the youngest member of the Port Hacking Game Fishing Club in Sydney, Australia, was fishing with his father, captain Ibby Darbas and two deckhands on the boat Undertaker about 99 miles south of Sydney off the coast of Browns Mountain, according to 9News.
The tiger shark was drawn to the boat in a chum line, a bait was tossed its way and the fish bit.
“The adrenalin was pumping from the moment we all spotted the shark at the boat,” Jayden’s father Jonothan told 9News. “So Jayden grabs the rod, we harnessed him up.”
The Leader reported that it took Jayden “a whole day to reel it in,” but 9News described the length of the battle as “surprisingly short.”
“I was trying to hold myself, by pushing off the wall in the boat,” Jayden, who weighs 88 pounds, told 9News about how he fought the shark.
Jayden got nervous as the shark was hoisted into the boat, according to The Daily Telegraph via Daily Mail Australia.
“I was thinking that I hope the crew can [get] the shark [on the boat] because I don’t want to lose it,” Jayden said. “I was really excited when they got it.”
When the tiger shark was weighed at Sylvania Marina, they realized it was bigger than the current world record in the smallfry category, which covers up to age 10. The current smallfry record for a tiger shark is 687 pounds, 13 ounces caught by Ian Hissey off of Port Stephens, New South Wales on April 27, 1997.
The paperwork for Jayden’s catch has been submitted to the IGFA.
