A fisherman's filmed himself pleading "Please don't attack me bro" to a great white shark as it stalked him in his kayak off the coast of remote a Northland beach.
Matt Wells, an avid fisher, films his adventures at sea and posts them online.
He was out about two weeks ago in "awesome" weather, the ocean was calm and he had just chucked out a live bait line.
Wells recorded what happened next.
"Great white, great white! Great white shark. Cutting the live bait off, he's still behind me, he's going at my rudder. Please don't attack me bro, he's been following me for like 200 metres - when a great white gets to that size its main food source is marine mammals and I'm a marine mammal right now.
"I've got about 4km right now before I can land on a beach, I'm sorry for all the swearing but I'm s***ing bricks right now."
On Tuesday, Wells told Checkpoint when he spotted the shark he was in shock and the adrenaline was high.
"I was actually just trolling my live bait along the coastline looking for kingfish and what turned out to be the shark, I initially mistook for a kingfish trying to eat my live bait."
The live bait likely would have helped draw the shark in, but it could also have been attracted by the shadow of the kayak along with the noise and vibrations coming off the hull, Wells said.
Wells said he had a 4.5m kayak which was quite large and very seaworthy and stable.
"I would say the shark was as along as the kayak, if not close to it, it was pretty hard to gauge the size in the moment."
It was the first time he had had to cut a live bait line due to a shark, he said.
Once he had cut the bait line his immediate concern was the shark's curiosity, he said.
"A great white is a very curious, curious creature, as well as they are an apex predator, but more so they'll often taste things before they decide they want to eat them, so I was mainly worried that the shark was going to bump the kayak before deciding I wasn't food and I didn't really want to end up in the water."
The shark came in to check out the kayak, "it was giving me quite the fright", Wells said.
He attempted to divert the shark by throwing a water bottle into the water in the hope it would attack that, but it did not work.
The shark followed him for about eight minutes "but in all honesty it felt like a lifetime", he said.
Wells said although he was only about 800m offshore if he had paddled directly to the shore he would not have been able to berth as it was a sheer cliff face - so he had to go back to where he had launched the kayak - about 4km away.
The experience has not put him off fishing.
"It was an occupational hazard but I'm glad to have had the experience and I spent the next day fishing, and the next day after that and I've been out multiple times since."
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