Bait ball triggers huge shark feeding frenzy just metres off Red Bluff, Western Australia

THIS is the mother of all bait balls! Thousands of tiny fish, hundreds of sharks and a three-day bait buffet off the Australian coast — all while surfers paddle about. WATCH THE AMAZING VIDEO

Fangs for the memories! A Western Australian photographer got up close and personal with sharks just metres from the beach. Pictures: Diimex/Sean Scott.

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THOUSANDS of tiny fish, hundreds of sharks and a three-day bait buffet off the Australian coast.

These amazing photographs capturing bronze whaler sharks in a feeding frenzy just metres off a West Australian beach were taken by photographer Sean Scott, who drew the line at entering the water, despite dozens of swimmers, surfers and snorkellers braving the ocean.

Western Australian photographer Sean Scott captured bronze whaler sharks swim among surfers as they fed on thousands of bait fish off the beaches of Red Bluff. Picture: Diimex / Sean Scott

“I contemplated going in but I thought I’d leave them to it, I don’t think swimming in the middle of a bait ball is the smartest thing to do,” the landscape photographer said.

Bait balls are the result of tiny fish packing together as a defensive mechanism when attacked and appear as huge dark shadows in the water, although Mr Scott said he had never seen one as big as this, which occurred last week off the coast of the tiny northwest town Red Bluff, 1000km north of Perth.

The massive bait fish ball seen from the air. Pictures: Diimex / Sean Scott

Unfortunately, the surfers aren’t the only ones soaking up the sea and sunshine. Bronze whaler sharks hunt just metres from people. Pictures: Diimex / Sean Scott

Mr Scott said the bait ball constantly changed shape and size but at one point was hundreds of metres long and more than 20m wide, drifting so close to the shore that several larger bronze whalers catching a wave had to pull out at the last minute.

READ MORE: IDIOT GREENIES SABOTAGING SHARK NETS

“They had to pull back to make sure  they didn’t land on the beach. It was beautiful.’’ The stunning photos come amid a different frenzy over shark nets in NSW after a large great white shark surfaced close to a young boy during a surfing competition off the north coast.

The incident, which left the boy distraught, has sparked urgent calls for nets to be reinstalled across the region. The monster man-eater swam close to the 12-year-old while he was competing in the SkullCandy OzGrom Open off Seven Mile Beach at Lennox Head on Sunday.

Dozens of the man-eaters in the WA waters. Pictures: Diimex / Sean Scott

It was the latest in a series of large sharks spotted off the NSW north coast this winter, sparking fresh demands for nets to urgently go back up on the region’s beaches.

A successful six-month trial of shark nets off the north coast ended early in May, amid concern that migrating whales would become entangled in the mesh.

A huge bait ball attracted the hundreds of sharks. Pictures: Diimex / Sean Scott

Photographer Sean Scott got up close with the man-eaters — but not too close. Pictures: Diimex / Sean Scott

Authorities cleared the water off Seven Mile Beach at the weekend after a separate sighting of a “very large white shark”.

“While this was occurring, sharks were caught on smart drum lines at South Wall and Shelly Beach,” Ballina councillor Phil Meeha said. “The situation is basically out of control and the next attack is only a matter of time.”

A picture obtained by the Daily Telegraph, taken by a fisherman off Shelly Beach on Sunday, purportedly shows a large shark caught on a drum line, with sources suggesting it was taken away from the shore and released.

The fish was “alive and thrashing”, with surfers about 200m away. The government appears certain to get nets back out, but not until summer.