Holy SH*t or Bull Sh*t- Time to buy a bigger boat?

I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

Last week we published this photo sent in by reader Mad Max, who asked us whether it was true or false?

The photo sent in has been circulating the internet for some time, often with the caption "Time to buy a bigger boat!",  "I think you're going to need a bigger boat!" (which by the way is a classic line from the 1975  smash hit JAWS!) or "I think we're gonna need a bigger boat!" (which a little oddly is also the title of an album by Fat Boy Slim under the unusual colabrative name "Brighton Port Authority")

In these days of digitally manipulated fishing photos, it's true you just can't trust every photo that lands in your inbox or apepars on your favourite website, but according to our experts, this photo of a very very big fish actually is a real photo!

Snorkling with a Whale Shark

The  fish in the photo is a Whale Shark, which really are huge! The largest recorded specimen was 12.65 metres (41.50 ft) and so easily dwarf many recreational fishing boats. The Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus, is a  slow moving filter feeding shark that is well known for its willingness to let boats and even swimmers come close and sometimes even touch it.  Found in tropical and warm oceans, if you want to see a Whale Shark,  they migrate every spring to the continental shelf of the central west coast of Australia coming in to feed off the coral spawning of the  Ningaloo Reef.

If you've seen a big fish photo, crazy fishing video or tall fishing story that sounds too good to be true send 'em all in to holy@fishmax.com.au and our team of reporters and experts will investigate and tell you whether they are truely "Holy Sh*t" or "Bull Sh*t"!