Whakatane – an angler’s story

Michelle Goodhew didn’t mean to catch a shark. She had a snapper hook on her line and was trying to land skipjack tuna for use as bait in her husband’s charter boat business. And, to be fair, the shark didn’t even take the bait that was offered – she hooked him in the tail. It took almost five hours to land the 230kg shark, perched on the engine block at the rear of the boat, hauling it backwards until it came to the surface.