Kiwi fisherman records massive great white shark lunging out of water, 'looking me in the eye'

A Bay of Plenty fisherman was out on the water catching some seafood for his upcoming 21st when he came face-to-face with a massive great white shark yesterday evening.

Josh Lonergan told 1 NEWS he was fishing around Anzac Bay at about 8pm yesterday, hoping to get some food to smoke for his birthday next month.

He was nearing the end of his fishing trip when he noticed the animal, which he described as four metres long and around 300 kilogrammes, swim towards his boat.

"The shark put on a bit of a show," Longergan said, describing how it began thrusting around out of the water.

"It was looking me in the eye. It was pretty intimidating."

That's when he decided to start filming.

Video footage shows the "money shot" as the shark leaps out of the water two more times.

"I feel pretty happy and lucky," he said of the experience.

This wasn't the first shark encounter for Longergan, who heads out on the water at least once a week and said sharks were common in the local harbour. But he said seeing a great white in it's natural feeding habitat was "cooler" than other times when he'd hooked them.

"It's better than seeing them when they're tired."

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