{"id":356917,"date":"2026-03-31T14:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356917\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:31:12","slug":"christchurch-teenage-fisherman-hooks-2m-shark-off-new-brighton-pier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/356917\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch teenage fisherman hooks 2m shark off New Brighton Pier"},"content":{"rendered":"
The height of the pier meant that lifting the shark directly was not an option, as the line would snap under the weight of the animal. <\/p>\n
Luca Curnow with his 2m-long shark catch. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Luca threw himself into a 45-minute battle with the shark at the end of the line, carefully working the animal along the pier and down towards the shoreline.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had to fight the line the whole way down, reeling it in and being gentle and letting it swim out and reeling it back in,\u201d Stevenson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis heart was beating out of his chest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bait used for the catch. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Eventually, Luca managed to bring the shark to shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey managed to get it onto the beach and have a couple of photos. It was quite a production,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n
Unhooking the shark proved to be another lengthy task.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis friend sat down and held the jaw open of the shark while my partner and Luca were arms deep in its mouth to unhook it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The shark was then successfully released back into the water.<\/p>\n
Stevenson said Luca had been planning a big catch for several days, although the outcome was beyond anything he had predicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he was quite anticipating a shark,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Workers repairing the New Brighton Pier will be inside watertight tubes on the seabed. Photo \/ Christchurch Star<\/p>\n
Although surfcasting is still relatively new for the teenager, Stevenson said that her son has developed a strong passion for fishing since he was young. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe just researches all the time, he\u2019s always looking at new methods and watching his idols,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n
Luca also shares his fishing experiences online through his TikTok account, Fishing Bros NZ, where he documents his catches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis absolute passion at the moment is fishing, and he\u2019ll take any opportunity to go to different bodies of water,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just disconnects, and he says it gives him an endorphin rush.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a nice feeling as a mother knowing that something so wholesome is occupying his time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The height of the pier meant that lifting the shark directly was not an option, as the line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[116466,74,71859,23265,4487,18089,2837,42610,3989,19630,3087,150781,8526,117,111,43,139,69,6662,188624,8481,12718,1238,7971,10706,4054],"class_list":["post-356917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2m","tag-after","tag-bragging","tag-brighton","tag-christchurch","tag-dramatic","tag-during","tag-earned","tag-effort","tag-fisherman","tag-fishing","tag-hooks","tag-latenight","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-pier","tag-reeling","tag-rights","tag-serious","tag-shark","tag-teenage","tag-teenager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}