Queensland shark hunter Vic Hyslop sparked an Australia wide sensation 35 years ago in November 1987, when he broke all records fishing off Seal Rocks, hooking one of the largest white pointers to ever be caught.

The catch was made in a 20 foot fibreglass boat , and was claimed as a record by him.

Hundreds of people flocked to the Anderson Street boat ramp in Cowes to see the 20 foot long 2.4 tonne monster, as it was towed in and craned on to the beach.
The news helicopters hovered overhead before racing back to Melbourne with their footage, in time for that night’s news.
Vic Hyslop was the hero of the hour, and his skill in landing such a huge catch lauded.

By the following day, he was under attack.

Queensland based Vic Hyslop was a professional shark hunter, known across Australia for his interest in and study of sharks.

Commercial fishermen described him as the best in the world at what he did, which was to hunt and study large sharks. His work at times included retrieval of human remains after shark attacks.
He also provided samples for research to museums and scientific institutions around the world.

In 1973, he caught a monstrous white pointer in the area where Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without trace.

Fourteen years on, Vic Hyslop arrived on Phillip Island where he landed a 20 foot, two tonne 65 year old white pointer off Seal Rocks, after five days of trying. The feat was initially described as heroic, but then a barrage of criticism was fired at him from environmentalists, who deplored the shark’s killing.

Vic felt no guilt at catching the fish at all.

“Think of the seals and dolphins and possible penguins it would have eaten in the next month, let alone the next 40 years,” he commented at the time, adding he had once caught a shark with 13 penguins in its stomach.

Newspapers of the day reported that Vic had been asked to come to Phillip Island by Penguin Reserve Management, as it was suspected that a shark could have been responsible for a drop in penguin numbers.

Cowes resident Laurie Dixon recalls the incident well, and the furore that went on. Vic was his guest while on Phillip Island, and Laurie said that all of the necessary permits for Vic to hunt the shark were in place when he commenced his mission.

The visit was in fact Vic’s third to Phillip Island to go shark hunting, over the previous twelve months. On the two previous visits, operating off the Nobbies, he had caught nothing.

Laurie said Vic had spoken at length with local commercial shark fishermen at San Remo before heading out on this occasion, and they were happy to give advice and were supportive of his efforts.
He also had permission from the Fisheries Department to hunt for a large shark. On this occasion, he used a huge sting ray caught from under the San Remo pier as bait.

He set three shark lines in the vicinity of Seal Rocks. Big blue drums were attached as markers. There were five 20 litre drums as floaters from the lines down to the hooks. If a shark could pull the drums under the water, he knew that it was a big one hooked.

Vic went out in his boat at daybreak every morning to check the drums. On the fifth morning, conditions were good and at daybreak he headed out to Seal Rocks. The drums were disappearing under the water.

The shark put up a lengthy fight from all reports and it was two hours before it was finally tailroped. Vic attached the rope to the back of his boat, and headed back toward Cowes and the Anderson Street boat ramp.

He stopped en route at Grossard Point, climbed to the top of the cliff and asked a local resident for the use of a phone (no mobiles in those days)  and rang ahead to alert Laurie that he would need assistance at the boat ramp when he arrived.

Laurie, however, was out in a paddock working. The first he knew was a police car roaring across the grass toward him, telling him he was needed at home.

News certainly travels fast in a small country town and by the time Laurie got to the boat ramp, the news helicopters were circling and hundreds of onlookers had assembled on the beach.
The first thing that Laurie did was organise a crane through his cousin Michael Dixon. Mike hoisted the shark aloft using slings, and its size was truly incredible.

There was a great deal of excitement, and Vic was greeted as a hero as the onlookers saw the size of the boat he had gone out in. The state’s major newspapers and television channels had a field day.

But then said Laurie, “there was hell to pay.”

Vic Hyslop was attacked by conservation groups for killing the shark, and the issue was hotly debated over the airwaves in the following days. The Fisheries Department demanded Vic return the shark to the water.

He refused! said Laurie. “He was then told he had to gut the shark.”

Angry at the tirade launched against him, he refused.

He was finally told he had to cut a sample of meat from the shark, for scientific use, and agreed to that request, Laurie said.

The record breaking shark was taken to Vic Hyslop’s Shark Show exhibition at Hervey Bay in Queensland, where it remained on exhibition for the next fifteen or so years.

It was taken there in the special, large refrigerated truck that Vic had driven to Phillip Island in, with his boat towed behind. A supportive onlooker organised for a tonne of dry ice to be at the ready in Melbourne as the truck passed through, to get the shark back to Queensland.

The shark was eventually sold to a Japanese buyer, and is now on display in Tokyo.