After catching several marlin off Port Stephens, Al McGlashan jumps into the water with his underwater camera to film the release of a striped marlin. That’s when a very large mako shark showed up and things got really exciting!
The 2011 season started pretty poorly for the Strikezone crew. It seemed that wherever we went we always missed the bite. Another frustration was my plan to take my photography to another level. At the start of the season I invested in a new underwater housing and I was excited to get wet and start shooting underwater. For years I’ve been inspired by the underwater images from the likes of fellow BlueWater contributor Bill Boyce and was eager for a fresh, new angle on my own photography.
Over a lifetime on the water, my fishing has evolved from just catching fish to an ever-increasing desire to learn more about the underwater world and how it works. The problem is that as fishermen we see everything from above, when all the action happens down below. As a result we never get the full picture. The more time I spend on the water, the greater my urge to jump in and see everything from the fish’s view. Finally I was armed and ready – but the fishing was slow.
EVERYTHING CHANGED
By early February we were still only ticking away, tallying a few fish along with the rest of the fleet. Then suddenly, as is so often the case, everything changed in a heartbeat. We had just shifted camp from Jervis Bay up to Port Stephens after hearing that the baitfish were stacking up. Things looked promising upon our arrival at the ground known as the ‘Car Park’ when Scotty Thorrington on his new boat, Flyingfisher, hooked-up straight away. The water was crystal clear, making it perfect for filming underwater.
It didn’t take long to raise a fish, and before we knew it we were hooked-up and fighting. On one of its first jumps, the striped marlin flicked the mackerel off the hook and deposited it in the water close-by our transom. Another striped marlin rushed in and seized the opportunity, scooping up the mortally wounded baitfish. Then, to our amazement, this free-swimming marlin cruised straight up to the back of the boat, apparently fascinated with our Honda outboard. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for! Without any hesitation, I jumped in armed with the new camera. All of my life I have wanted to swim with a wild marlin, watching it in its natural environment unhindered by a line.
The fish seemed surprised to see a pink walrus-like figure in the water. It edged over curiously. The guys pitched out a livebait to tempt it, but the marlin seemed more interested in my presence than the easy meal. Watching this fish lit-up in neon blue, moving effortlessly through the water, was incredible – and then it came so close that I could almost touch it. Unfortunately, the magical encounter was cut all too short – not because the fish lost interest, but because the other marlin that the guys in the boat were still fighting was quickly spooling them. Reluctantly, I clambered back aboard and we gave chase…
WHAT’S GOING ON?
We caught that fish and an hour later we were hooked-up again. Hoping that it would provide a perfect opportunity to film the release, I prepared the camera as the fight came to a close. However, things were a little different this time and the fish kept struggling really hard, making it difficult for the guys to get a grasp on the leader.
While battling to control this marlin, the sounder kept marking a second fish below us. Figuring it was another striped marlin, the guys fed out another mackerel in the hope of a double hook-up. The bait was not taken, but with all the commotion that the team already had to deal with, the second fish was not given a second thought.
Eventually, we got our marlin under control, so with guys holding it by the bill I took the plunge. For the first few minutes I shot a series of images from various angles and even dived down to shoot silhouettes from below. By this stage the marlin had calmed down and seemed more interested in me than anything else.
Shooting with a super-wide-angle lens means that you have to take care to be in the right position to frame the subject correctly. For the release sequence I had to swim wide and then come in at right angles to the boat to get the best shot. This all sounds easy, but with wind drift and a current running hard, plus a camera that’s as awkward to hold as a sheet of plyboard, I was struggling to get into position. My oversized flippers were working overtime and I was almost in position to raise my camera for the shot when I suddenly felt a rush of water as something big swooshed close-by at high speed. I spun around to see a huge blue shape attached to the marlin at the side of the boat. For a second I struggled to comprehend what was unfolding, but as reality sank in I realised that it was a massive mako shark and it had latched on to the marlin barely a metre away from me!
IN THE KILLING ZONE
Everything was in slow motion from that point. It was a classic example of seeing your life flash before you. I thought of my wife and the kids, and how horrified my mum would be when she learnt that I’d be devoured by a sea monster. And then I snapped out of it and got down to business, making sure that the camera was in focus.
Everyone reacts differently to a situation of danger. Rightly or wrongly, I have always had a very cavalier attitude to sharks and the risks involved with my job. I just figured that when my number is up, it is up. When that happens, it doesn’t matter whether I am swimming with sharks or walking down the road. Still, when it actually came to facing death in the eye, I have to admit that I was surprised how calmly I reacted. I think I was mesmerised by the spectacle.
The shark initially struck near the marlin’s anal fin and then mouthed its way down the body towards the tail. It didn’t bite chunks out of the marlin so there was little blood, it just literally felt its way down the body towards the tail.
At the same time, I still remember glancing up at the guys in the boat, then looking back underwater, double checking to make sure the shark was really there – because everyone onboard seemed completely oblivious to what was unfolding! In fact, the footage from another camera attached to the boat’s rocket launcher shows the shark clearly – yet no-one onboard saw it!
Once the huge mako got a grip on the marlin’s tail it showed its full might by crunching down and then rolling to get full leverage and snapping the tail clean off in a split second. I still remember watching awestruck as blood erupted from the marlin as the shark severed all of its arteries. The water quickly clouded with billowing plumes of an eerie red.
The shark was lost to me in the cloud of blood and suddenly I felt I had overstayed my welcome. I made a dash for the boat – and if you think the likes of Ian Thorpe can swim fast, well, believe me, he would have had no chance against me.
I never would have imagined the ensuing media storm that followed this amazing encounter. In fact, I was surprised to learn that apparently no-one else has ever witnessed a mako attack on a marlin from a front-row seat underwater – and certainly no-one has ever filmed such an event.
THINKING LIKE A SHARK
On reflection, the risk wasn’t as big as many may think. The shark was probably there for a while, following the fish during the closing stages of the fight, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. What is really interesting, though, is the fact that the mako deliberately waited until I got out of the way before it pounced. During the attack, while I was filming the shark, I was often right up close – often within arm’s reach. In fact, I even dived down to get some shots with a different perspective – from below, looking up. Yet during the whole episode the mako never threatened me. But don’t get me wrong; this wasn’t because the mako is a caring individual who wanted to look after my welfare. Instead, it is most likely because it was unsure of what I was – and therefore was unwilling to risk getting in my way. And while a mako certainly is an incredible predator, like all large predatory sharks, when it launches an attack it instinctively closes its eyes to protect them from damage. Taking on a big marlin is already a risky business even for a mako, so going blind for a few seconds is something it will be wary of doing when it’s vulnerable to another, unknown predator in the vicinity.
At no time did the shark show any interest in me. Even when I had dropped back and swung wide for my final photos of the marlin, my flippers were making quite a commotion and I was well away from the safety of the boat, yet it bypassed me and headed straight for the marlin. Looking back now, I shudder to remember all those old shark-attack theories about how splashing supposedly attracts man-eaters.
That mako seemed single-minded about what it wanted from the start. To the mako, I probably seemed to be another predator that was also lining up to attack the marlin. If it had known that I was not a threat, it would probably have rushed in and not waited for the last possible moment when the fish was alongside the boat.
I wonder if things may have turned out differently had the shark been a great white. Immature whites and makos regularly feed on tuna, but when they reach adulthood the makos add marlin and swordfish to the menu while the whites upgrade their diet to seals and dolphins. Maybe to a white shark I would have seemed less of an unknown threat and more of an unfamiliar meal!
The experience is something I will never forget, and I often look back at my footage and stills and think how lucky I was to have witnessed nature in the raw like this and still be around to tell the tale.
