Growing up in Lorn, Max Border never thought he would have a shark tale to tell. Now the 15-year-old is getting national attention after he wrangled a huge shark.
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The teenager and his mother Kathy moved from the Hunter to Palm Cove in far north Queensland last year. The move meant Max could spend more time doing what he loved – fishing.
He soon became a familiar sight on the local jetty and even started helping the tourists to fish, but this month he was a talking point for a different reason.
The passionate young fisherman reeled in a whopping three-metre long tawny nurse shark. Photographs of the catch went viral online. They were shared by impressed fishermen, fishing and tackle businesses and local media. The catch of the day even featured on Channel 7’s national television news program Sunrise.
While the catch saw Max’s fishing credentials sky-rocket, the tough part came when he had to unhook and release the shark back into the wild. Luckily he had the help of some nearby fishermen to wrangle the large animal.
“I was a bit too scared to get in the water with the shark,” Max said of the catch.
“So I held its tail.”
Max was actually trying to catch a barramundi and hooked the monster shark by accident. Unbelievably the shark was one of two he caught that night, releasing both back into the water. He called his mum as soon as he made the first catch.
I was trying to catch a barramundi. I was a bit too scared to get in the water with the shark. So I held the tail while they unhooked it for me.
- Max Border
“He told me he had a big one and when I got down there I was shocked,” Kathy Border said.
“It was a huge shock as he wanted to catch the biggest barras in Queensland. The best thing of all, the hook was removed and the shark was put back safely to the water. So you can imagine my son is the happiest boy at the moment.
“He has always been a fisherman. When we lived at Lorn he would always be down at the riverbank or out at Stockton or Swansea.
“He wants to do marine biology and start his own fishing or charter business.”
The national fame has not fazed Max who can still be seen almost every day down at the jetty towing his cart filled with fishing gear.
