Great white shark in Hauraki Gulf leaps from water, fishermen get more than bargained for

Mark Kitteridge (pictured) and Andre Kassal caught some big fish in December 2023, but both got more than they bargained for when a great white shark leaped from the water in the Hauraki Gulf. Photo / Mark Kitteridge

A slow day out on the Hauraki Gulf for two fishermen quickly turned into a “crazy trip to remember” when a great white shark leapt out from the water.

Andre Kassal told the Herald conditions were extremely flat and calm when he and Mark Kitteridge started out - “then suddenly there was this big crash and I just saw the fully airborne shark - I was like, ‘holy f***’.”

The pair had only intended to catch kingfish; and while they did manage to snare a 22kg kingfish, a 12kg snapper and a 4kg trevally, the great white was more than either of them had bargained for.

Kitteridge said: “The last thing I was expecting to come across was something like this. I would have thought it was potentially a mako or something like that, but the girth of it was what gave it away.”

Kitteridge said it would have been “at least 150kg” and when it “launched from the water and just engulfed my lure ... it reminded me of what you see on National Geographic - it was the ferocity of the strike”.

He first noticed the shark when he heard “a sound like a car hitting the water” and then watched a big tail disappear into the sea.

“There was white water everywhere around my popper and I could still see it [the shark] around where my popper was. I was able to go and start bringing it back to me and I was cranking as fast as I could to get it away.

“Just as I slowed and I was saying to Andre, ‘oh my god, did you see that?’ the great white must have been following it and just fifteen feet from our boat - it was so close - it launched from the water.

“When my lure came back up, I went to grab it and [Andre] says, ‘don’t you dare put your f***ing hand in the water’, so I had to pick it out with the end of my fishing rod. He was white and saying, ‘let’s get out of here’.”

Kassal said: “I haven’t seen a fully airborne shark going after the top water lure - never ever. I’ve seen free-jumping sharks like a bronzy or stuff like that. I was swearing because the last thing you want is a shark eating your lure.”

Kitteridge convinced Kassal to stay in the same spot and keep fishing, and good thing they did, as Kassal caught some more monster fish.

“It’s always worth listening to Mark, a hundred per cent. He is so experienced. When we fish, we’re always on the same page, we’re very keen and very competitive and on that day we had a plan, and we followed through,” Kassal said.

“Every trip I have with Mark is a good trip. We always come up with something like this. We caught the other kingfish, which we wanted to, just 15 minutes after the shark. We kept playing the game and then there was this really good snapper.”

With some jangled nerves, though, Kassal did let one catch get away when he thought it may have been another shark.

Kitteridge, in good humour, recalls the end of the trip: “We went back to the same area later that day and [Kassal] cast out - next thing there’s this huge, great big explosion behind his lure and he started cranking it like crazy.

“I said, ‘what the hell are you doing, mate?’ and he goes, ‘oh isn’t that the shark?’. He was still paranoid, you know, affected by that morning’s event. It cost him probably the biggest king he’d ever have caught.”

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

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