A group of New Zealand fishermen got a bigger catch than they bargained for after a massive mako shark leapt out of the water and landed on their boat. A video of the shark-jumping moment is currently making waves online.
“I told the customers, ‘If it jumps in the boat, get out of the way,’ ” Ryan Churches, captain of Churchys Charters NZ, told the New Zealand Herald of the “bonkers” incident, which occurred Saturday while he was taking five clients fishing off Whitianga.
The group was reportedly targeting kingfish when, all of a sudden, the bait was taken by a shortfin mako — the world’s fastest shark, capable of achieving speeds of up to 46 mph, Storyful reported.
“We were fighting it normally, and it was jumping around,” explained Churches, who cautioned the customers to move out of the way should it leap into the boat.
His warning was more than warranted: “It just so happened that about 30 seconds later, it jumped on the top of the boat,” the skipper exclaimed. “We were all watching the rod and the line was going out to the side of the boat, and it changed direction suddenly … it just happened to jump at the same time and we got a hell of a fright.”
The “Jaws”-dropping clip, which was posted to the Churchys Charters NZ Facebook page, starts off typically enough with a client battling the unseen sea beast on rod and line from the stern of the boat. All of a sudden, the humongous predator jumps out of the water and crash-lands onto the bow as the crew cries out in shock.
“A mako just jumped on our boat, boys!” the captain exclaims of the “Deep Blue Sea”-esque encounter.
The shark — which Churches estimated to weigh around 330 pounds and measure 8- to 9-feet long — then sits on the bow with its jaws agape for the remainder of the clip.
Churches was worried the crew would have to intervene and try and free the creature, which would’ve been a risky move given its razor-sharp teeth.
“I was thinking, ‘What the f – – k do we do?’ ” the captain said. “We can’t go up the front to go near it because they go absolutely bonkers.”
Salvation came after the shark managed to wriggle free on its own and return to the water unharmed.
“We dropped the anchor down a little bit because it seemed to be holding it in place [on the boat],” said Churches. “He went absolutely bonkers again and pushed himself through the bow rail and slid back into the water.”
“He got away safe,” added the angler, who said the crew was luck that the toothy hunter didn’t land in the back of the boat where they were.
All told, the mako had been thrashing about in the boat for a whopping “two minutes,” per Churches.
This isn’t the first time the species, which is known for its thrilling aerial displays, has inadvertently boarded a fishing vessel. In September, a group of high school boys and their dads were treated to a scene straight out of “Jaws” when a mako shark jumped from the ocean into their charter fishing boat midexcursion.
