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Massive great white steals the fish and the show

Great white shark leaps a metre clear of the water as it snares the catch of the day

Palmwoods farmer Keith Paxton has come back from a day fishing off Mooloolaba with a haul of snapper and story about the one taken from the back of his boat by a leaping four metre great white shark. Picture: Bill Hoffman
Palmwoods farmer Keith Paxton has come back from a day fishing off Mooloolaba with a haul of snapper and story about the one taken from the back of his boat by a leaping four metre great white shark. Picture: Bill Hoffman

THERE was a big swirl in calm conditions off Mooloolaba today and then a four-metre shark, teeth and gums bared, launched upward one metre out of the water within 10 metres of the boat where Palmwoods farmer Keith Paxton was attempting to land a large snapper.

FARMER Keith Paxton with a 17kg cod and 5.5kg coral trout he caught off Mooloolaba in 2016. Picture: Contributed
FARMER Keith Paxton with a 17kg cod and 5.5kg coral trout he caught off Mooloolaba in 2016. Picture: Contributed

In 40 years of heading out to the Barwon Banks it was a sight and a day Keith said he had never before seen anything like.

Not only were conditions ideal and the snapper well and truly on the chew with he and his companion landing a succession of good-sized fish, but the ocean was alive with whales in pods, mums with their babies, slapping the surface with their flippers.

"It was unbelievable to see something like that,” Keith said. "It was so calm. I've never seen a shark launch out of the water like that.

"I've seen them swim around the back of the boat. I've been going out there for 40 years and have seen some special things.

"But that big white, the size of its stomach, that was some animal.”

Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sunshine-coast/massive-great-white-steals-the-fish-and-the-show/news-story/686004c74d308cea3583bb4ce2c6d755