''I went out with a mate on Australia Day but we ended up coming back after 35 kilometres without even a turn of the reel,'' he recounts. ''Then, two days later, I headed out by myself to Currarong. I paddled out about seven kilometres. I was only there for about 20 minutes before something took my bait. I didn't know what it was at that stage because over the past three or four years, I've caught 50, 60 sharks. Each time I was hoping it was a marlin, but I'm always disappointed.'' But as Mr Sheppeard's dramatic footage demonstrates, this was to be no ordinary day. ''About five or ten seconds later, it's jumped out to the right of my kayak. It's a marlin. I held on for grim life and squealed like a girl. It's jumped out again right in front of me … it's pulling me through the water … it jumped out of the water again and done about five [consecutive] aerials. I thought, 'I hope the camera's recording.' '' Mr Sheppeard, a 40-year-old policeman from Gerringong on the south coast, stalks some of the ocean's largest creatures on a one-man kayak - for the sheer thrill of it. As a young boy, he used to fish off rocks with his brother and watch with envy as big schools of fish moved past just out of reach of his lure. ''Growing up, I could never afford a boat,'' he said. ''Then, about 10 years ago, I bought a standard $1200 kayak. I modified it, put rod holders on the sides. The adventures started there.''

At first, Mr Sheppeard was ''spooked'' by the sight of hammerhead sharks torpedoing straight towards the bait trailing closely behind his kayak. With each trip, however, his confidence and experience grew. Today, he boasts his own website and an $8000 state-of-the-art fully sponsored ocean kayak. One of his struggles with a shark has attracted almost 250,000 hits on YouTube and he has recently released his first DVD. But, with last week's leaping marlin show and with three cameras mounted on his kayak capturing every move, Mr Sheppeard said he had never filmed anything quite so dramatic or ''awe-inspiring''. ''When you've got a big marlin on like that … it's pulling you through the water at seven or eight kilometres an hour - and straight out to sea. Within an hour or so, I was already six kilometres away from where I'd started … so I'm halfway out to the continental shelf. It's like, where do you draw the line?'' After about 90 minutes, the footage shows an exhausted Mr Sheppeard attempting to bring the marlin alongside his vessel so he can take one last ''perfect'' overhead video frame and then set it free. The giant fish, however, had other plans. ''He's decided to take another jump about three metres from my kayak … and then he's snapped me off and the line's gone slack.''

Mr Sheppeard said the marlin then produced one last leap, as if to say goodbye. The struggle ends with Mr Sheppeard yelling: ''See ya later, buddy.'' He occasionally receives feedback from viewers who argue his hobby is cruel. But he defends the sport: ''People don't realise that most game fishermen are pretty respectful to the fish they catch. They let them go. They also tag them for Fisheries, for research, as I do with the sharks. I'd say nearly all the fish I hook are in good shape when they disappear off. You only have to look at the marlin I just hooked. He had more energy left than I did.'' With Mr Sheppeard having fulfilled his teenage dream of not only hooking but filming his marlin, is he now about to hang up his rod? Loading ''Not just yet,'' he replied. Next is the ''dream trifecta'' - which comes with hooking individual black, striped and blue marlin. ''And besides,'' he said, ''if I told my wife there was nothing left to aim for, she'd never let me out there again.''