ESPERANCE mates Joshua Butterworth and Jethro Bonnitcha are astounded by the international attention they've received since images of them with massive sharks caught off-shore at their secret spot emerged online.
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Photographs of the pair with their catches - including a 4.1 metre long hammerhead shark and an unknown-sized tiger shark - were shared on the Rogue Offshore Facebook page on January 13 and since then, they have gained a lot attention.
Their photos have been shared more than 2300 times and Mr Butterworth said he had been sent countless Facebook friend requests and messages and received umpteen phone calls from "all sorts" around the world, including an American television station.
Mr Butterworth said they had no idea the photographs, taken by Mr Bonnitcha's wife Jenn, would have been such a hit online.
"We're just both laughing," Mr Butterworth said.
Mr Butterworth said the hammerhead was caught on New Year's Day and the tiger shark a couple of days later in a location the pair wanted to keep secret, only revealing it as somewhere in the "mid west coast". However, Mr Butterworth confirmed the sharks were not caught anywhere near Esperance waters.
Mr Butterworth and Mr Bonnitcha, along with their respective partners, went camping in the area for about two weeks, spending most of their time fishing.
It was during those holidays that Mr Bonnitcha reeled in the massive hammerhead and the unmeasured-sized tiger shark from the shore at the same location, while Mr Butterworth pulled them in carefully by their tails.
After taking a few snaps with the massive creatures, Mr Butterworth said they were carefully released back into the ocean.
"[Jethro] reeled them both in. We were targeting good sharks, we know they're out there," Mr Butterworth said.
He said it took about 90 minutes for the hammerhead to come in and about 40 minutes for the tiger shark - but it wasn't without a fight.
"We watched [the hammerhead] swim to the shallows and take the bait," he said.
"[Tigers are] just really stubborn. He thrashed about and came out of the water."
Despite the images of these two massive sharks going viral, Mr Butterworth said these were just two of the dozens they had caught and released during their holiday.
He said they both enjoyed fishing for the sport of it and often released their catches back into the ocean.
