Darwin teen fishermen land hammerhead and nurse shark from beach in Fannie Bay

Kye Rykers’ 13-year-old son Blake and his mates Ryder and Deagan spend their weekends reeling in sharks all around Darwin.

A group of young fishermen, and their adult minder, have had an epic weekend with the rod, reeling in not one but two decent sized sharks and it was all caught on video.

Kye Rykers was with his 13-year-old son Blake and his mates Ryder and Deagan when they caught the hammerhead and nurse sharks at the weekend and he said that catching the big fish was nothing new to the boys.

“There’s a handful of kids around the Northern Territory who all go shark fishing,” he said.

“They post them on their Tik Tok, I think my son’s account is the NT Shark Boys.

“And yeah they have been catching sharks every weekend like that all around Darwin.”

The hammerhead shark that was caught in Fannie Bay on the weekend. Picture: Supplied.

The sharks were caught from Sunset Beach just near East Point in Fannie Bay Mr Rykers said with an impressive kit the boys put together themselves.

“We’ve got a little boat that takes the bait out a couple of hundred metres to drop it, like a little remote control sort of thing that we send out with the bait,” he said.

“We had never tried East Point before, and we took the bait out, and yeah the boys landed a hammerhead and nurse shark.”

Mr Rykers said the keen fishermen and Tik Tok stars gathered their shark catching knowledge in a typical way for people their age by “watching a lot of YouTube”.

The boys get all their own gear together and set up their own rigs with Mr Rykers on hand for transport and to make sure “they don’t lose a limb”.

He said he also teaches them how to fish for shark as sustainably and fish friendly as possible.

The nurse shark that was reeled in by Ryder, Blake and Deagan. Picture: Supplied

“We use circle hooks so we don’t gut hook the sharks and we crush the barb off the hooks so it’s easy to get the hook out,” he said.

“And we have a big T bar like a tool to put on the hook and twist it to get it out of the shark’s mouth quickly.

“I try to teach them, let’s get in there, let’s catch him, let’s get the hooks out, take some quick photos and get them back in the water as quick as we can.”

Mr Rykers said outside of nurse and hammerheads the boys have also landed tiger sharks on their fishing trips and they recently landed a four-metre hammer off Mandorah Jetty.

“We are catching sharks that size while people are swimming in the water and trying out kitesurfing,” he said.

“I’m thinking ‘if you see what we just pulled out of the water, you probably won’t want to be doing that.”

Originally published as Darwin teen fishermen land hammerhead and nurse shark from beach in Fannie Bay