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Mandurah fisherman Michael Draper hooks 3 metre tiger shark off Falcon beach

Headshot of Rourke Walsh
Rourke WalshThe West Australian
Mandurah fisherman Michael Draper with the tiger shark.
Camera IconMandurah fisherman Michael Draper with the tiger shark. Credit: hoopersmayhem_aussie_style/instagram/supplied

It’s a monster catch most anglers only dream of but for Mandurah’s Michael Draper landing this 300kg tiger shark was almost by accident.

The experienced local fisher hooked the 3m beast while beach fishing for other shark species off Falcon on Monday night.

With help from a couple mates, it took more than an hour to safely reel the shark in and remove the hook without causing any injury.

Draper said he had been fishing for bronze whaler and bull sharks and had not realised he had hooked a massive tiger shark until he got it to the shallows.

“You don’t normally catch them and not that close in either,” he said.

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“It had some old fishing line wrapped around its tail so we had to grab it and pull that off before getting it back in the water as quickly as possible.”

Draper said the shark was only at the shoreline for less than a minute before they pushed it back into the water and it swam away strongly.

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