Who’s the Biggest Fish in the Pond?

It is very uncommon for anyone to hear the words “shark” and “golf” in the same sentence, but this is still possible as was proven by Carbrook in Queensland, Australia. Carbrook is situated 14km from the Pacific Ocean and boasts a 700m long, 380m wide, 15m deep lake, that is prone to flooding, and it is common for the water from the ocean to reach the lake. 14km may be too much for most fish, but the bull shark has a reputation for being highly adaptable to many kinds of habitats.

In the early 90s River Logan burst its banks which resulted in large volumes of water covering the golf course for quite a long time, this resulted in many distinct species being stranded in creeks and lakes, even with many fish moved from the ocean to lakes nobody believed that 7 bull sharks had been moved from the ocean to a golf course. For that reason, everybody thought that reports of loud splashes, large dark shapes, and even claims of a large fin moving through the water were pure fantasy and the sharks began to be regarded as Queensland's Nessie.

The Carbrook golf course

This was until Brisbane based Courier Mail published a picture of sharks in the early 2000s. The general manager of Carbrook, Scott Wagstaff then set out to get his own piece of footage of the sharks which he shared on YouTube and has now amassed a whopping 2.3 million views.

The media lapped up stories about the 7 sharks who had made a new home in the golf course, and Carbrook golf club was quick to embrace their toothy tenants by adding a shark to their logo and renaming their youth program the Junior Shark Academy. The sharks attracted global attention and a German scientist named Dr. Peter Gausmann even published a study on the sharks and on the adaptability of the bull shark.

Sadly, the sharks mysteriously disappeared after the 2013 floods and only two deaths were confirmed, one found floating on the surface and the other one killed by illegal fishing. Scott Wagstaff was quoted as saying “You can’t help yourself – you walk along the lake and you’re looking in, waiting to maybe catch a glimpse of a fin breaking the water.”