Two-metre-long shark spoils party of crab fishing family on Easter Monday

A DARWIN family crab fishing for their Easter Monday dinner got more than they bargained for when they pulled up a shark two metres long instead.

Paul van Bruggen removes a large 1.5-2m shark that he caught in his crab pot along the El

A MARLOW Lagoon family crab fishing for their Easter Monday dinner got more than they bargained for when they pulled up a shark two metres long instead.

Paul van Bruggen removes a large 1.5-2m shark that he caught in his crab pot along the Elizabeth River.

Paul van Bruggen said everything was going along smoothly during their time along Elizabeth River — until it was time to get the crab pot out of the water.

“My oldest son was lifting it and said there was a big shark in there — I went over the side to look and thought ‘oh my God’,” he said.

“How he managed to even lift the pot off the ground I don’t know.”

It was an early morning catch, about 8am.

The family are regular fishers, Mr van Bruggen a veteran of 22 years across Top End waters.

Mr van Bruggen had seen crocodiles and smaller sharks get caught in his crab pots before, but nothing like this.

“Because it got stuck it had drowned before we pulled it up, and it destroyed the crab pot,” he said.

“It didn’t smell real flash, so we let it sink back down straight away.”

Thankfully for the family, they found enough crabs for a comfortable dinner.