A Boxing Day fishing trip turned into a one-in-a-lifetime experience after a family captured rare footage of the moment they accidentally hooked a great white shark.
On December 26, Jason Bragg, his partner and his nephew Andre were on the Kaipara Harbour north of Auckland testing new gear and aiming to bring home a nice catch for the family, when they got the fright of their lives.
Looking at their fish finder, Bragg knew he was in for a bite - but just minutes later things took a spectacular turn.
Bragg told The New Zealand Herald he had not long set up his new GoPro when the surprise bite took place.
"It's crazy, I got the GoPro for Christmas and I thought I should set it up and was unsure if it was working.
"Then less than four and a-half minutes later and that happened."
Andre's line had attracted a great white.
"I looked over at my fish finder and I said 'get ready guys hear it comes', not knowing it was going to be a great white. The fish finder was unreal, it was like a sea of red.
"Then my missus looked at the fish finder and thought 'whoa'! So I got the GoPro set up and suddenly this thing came out of the water."
Footage showed the moment the great white came out of the water.
The shark, which was about 3m long, can be seen in the video flying through the air with its teeth on show before crashing back into the water and sending the crew into a state of shock.
"Far out! We all saw it just come out, teeth and everything," Bragg explained. "It rolled over and came crashing down in the water and then it was all over in seconds.
"I've fished hundreds of times and this has never happened to me for. It was huge! It came way out of the water."
On the video, Andre is heard shouting "holy s***, what the **** was that?" as the large shark leapt out of the water.
Bragg confirmed the great white shark was able to safely swim away unharmed following their freak encounter.
Department of Conservation Marine Scientist Clinton Duffy, who has a wealth of experience with great whites in the Kaipara Harbour, said the shark was bigger than average and confirmed it was about 3m in size.
"The shark they came across could weigh around 300kg.
"They're in there primarily feeding on fish but they often scavenge off the back of fishing boats in the harbour. People don't know they're there because of the low visibility of the water."
While it's a common occurrence to come across great whites in the Kaipara, it is super-rare to capture footage of the creature breaching during an interaction.
"I've seen the sharks do it quite a lot but we've never been able to get it on camera. This type of footage is very rare. The camera is always pointing the wrong way," Duffy said.
"My colleagues will be quite jealous. We've spent years trying to get them on video breaching.
"You don't often capture that behaviour on film. As soon as they feel the line come down the side of their body or feel a bit of resistance they jump out the water and generally break the line immediately."
Snippets of the footage have since been posted online, with a number of fishermen stunned at what unfolded on Bragg's outing.
"You only see that once in ya life ... awesome!" one wrote.
Another said: "What an awesome photo and video. That's wicked man."
Great white sharks are protected under the Wildlife Act 1953. It is illegal to hunt, kill or otherwise harm them.
It's not illegal to accidentally catch a white shark but it must be released without causing harm.
Doc confirmed the fishermen's encounter was accidental and those on board acted within the law.
"The fishermen have done completely the right thing by reporting it. It helps research on the species. They weren't targeting it."
In 2015, 11 great white sharks were spotted at a single site in the Kaipara Harbour - the largest concentration of the species yet seen in the upper North Island at the time.
Earlier this week, two dead great white sharks and a baby hammerhead were discovered on Bowentown Beach.
The Ministry of Primary Industries says one of the sharks was found in a legally set net.
Last week Doc issued a warning for water users, saying there had been a rise in great white shark sightings in Tauranga Harbour, including Bowentown, and along the area's ocean coastline.
Bowentown resident Mandie Thompson said a neighbour told her there was a more than 2 metre-long great white close to her nearest beach access.
"Me, hubby and the kids ran down and had a little look. Sure enough, there was a great white sitting there. It was quite an impressive sight to see," she said.
"As soon as you got to the top of the dunes you could smell the shark baking in the sun."
