YOUNG Portland fisherman Lewis Hameka this week received a special (and to some unnerving) memento of his first mako shark – its jaw, complete with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Lewis was 15 at the time when he caught the 125kg shark back in January, taking around two hours to bring it in on 15kg line.

Portland Bait and Tackle owner Ben Johnstone decided that it was the day to get Lewis his first mako, and took him out on his boat out to the continental shelf.

It was a long trip out and the seas were rough, so after they dropped the lines, Lewis took a nap on the deck.

“I tell people that I can catch fish in my sleep, because I woke up to Ben saying we had one on,” he said.

“I didn’t really know what was going on or if he was messing with me, but then I saw it jump 30 feet out of the water.”

With a big weather change heading in their direction, the race was on to get the shark into the boat.

“We were pretty close to calling it, we were there ready to cut it off because it was just sitting there about five metres below the boat and we couldn’t get it up any more for ages.”

Eventually though, they were successful, and got back to Portland with the weather just behind them.

After they weighed Lewis’ catch and took plenty of photos, Mr Johnstone spotted Inger Archer nearby, who he knew to have an interest in taxidermy.

“I knew she did them so I just went up and asked if she’d do them for him, I thought it would be a nice thing for Lewis to have,” Mr Johnstone said.

This I the second set of jaws that the self-taught Ms Archer has done for a client, after spending the last few years practicing from YouTube videos on shark heads she has collected at the cleaning tables.

“I’m really happy with this one, I think it looks beautiful,” she said.

“A lot of the time they have lost a lot of teeth, but when I started to clean this one up it was amazing, it had pretty much all of them, they were all nice and not broken.

Then the hard work began, cutting away all of the skin and flesh around the jaw bone, exposed teeth, and rows of teeth hidden inside the back of the jaw, before chemical treatment, more cleaning and then mounting.

“That took at least a day, with sharp knives and then surgeons’ scalpel.

“Not everyone does it, but I like to open up all the rows of teeth behind so you can see them all, so that takes a long time.

“But I’m pleased with how it’s come up, and (Lewis) seems happy with it, so that’s the main thing.”

As for where it will live, Lewis already had a spot in mind.

“I reckon I’ll stick it up above my bed head,” he said, with a grin nearly as big as the shark’s.