Vodka-fuelled fisherman wrestles with shark

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A fisherman fueled by vodka caught a 1.3-meter (4-foot) shark and wrestled it onto a jetty on Australia's south coast, suffering only small tear marks in his trousers, media reports said on Friday.

Phillip Kerkhof, 41, caught the bronze whaler shark by hand on Monday after he spotted it chasing squid lures near the jetty at the tiny seaside town of Louth Bay in the South Australia state.

"I just snuck up behind him and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him," Kerkhof told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The area near Louth Bay, around the southern tip of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, is well known for sharks, and live shark action for the 1975 movie Jaws was filmed nearby.

Kerkhof, who said he had "a fair few vodkas" before he went fishing, said he only realized the danger of his actions the following day.

"It's not something I'd recommend to do," he said. "When I sobered up I thought about it and I said, 'I'm a bit of an idiot doing it'."