Bulahdelah recreational fisherman Allan Freihaut got the shock of his life last week when a white shark became tangled in his anchor ropes near Seal Rocks.
Mr Freihaut was adrift about three kilometres off the coast when he went to pull up his anchor to relocate.
“The shark came from nowhere and actually attacked the sea anchor, it rolled and got itself wrapped up in the ropes and started to pull the boat sideways and down,” he said.
“The anchor was in the shark’s mouth when I was pulling it in, it was like a lure coming through the water.”
Mr Freihaut told News Of The Area the shark cut through the ropes with its teeth due to the weight it was pulling.
“One of the ropes was 20mm and the other was 10mm, its teeth cut straight through them and then it was gone,” he said.
“The shark was about two-foot off the back of the boat by then. It was a great white for sure, about 10-12-foot long.”
Mr Freihaut is an experienced recreational fisherman and has seen many sharks over the years.
“I’ve done a lot game fishing in Lake Macquarie and up and down the coast. I’ve seen a lot of big sharks, but I’ve never seen anything behave in that way,” he said.
“It was a day where there were whales everywhere, we had several come up literally metres away and do circles around the boat.”
Mr Freihaut said although he needs to replace his anchor he is definitely not worried about going back out on the water.
“It was just one of those things, but if anyone sees a white shark with an orange and yellow surf hat, it’s mine, that was the colour of my anchor,” he said.