Ryan Churches went out with five customers off the coast of Whitianga on Saturday looking for kingfish.
But something much larger not only showed up but jumped into their boat after taking the bait.
The crazy event was captured on video. The large sea creature landed on the bow of the boat before flailing around and hitting the windshield with its tail.
“We were out at the Aldermans fishing with five customers on board winding a bait in and the mako took the bait.
“We were fighting it normally and it was jumping around. I told the customers ‘if it jumps in the boat get out of the way’.
“It just so happened that about 30 seconds later it jumped on the top of the boat. It was crazy. We were all watching the rod and the line was going out to the side of the boat and it changed direction suddenly… it just happened to jump at the same time and we got a hell of a fright.”
Churches claimed the Mako weighed about 150kg and measured eight to nine feet long.
The Mako was flailing around trying to escape after crash landing on the boat for “two minutes tops.”
Churches expressed fear that they would have to interfere and attempt to free the shark, which would have been extremely risky.
However, he stated that the shark managed to squirm away and that they were grateful that he did not fall on the back of the boat, where all of the clients were.
“He got away safe. There’s nothing much we could do. We can’t go up the front to go near it because they go absolutely bonkers.
“We dropped the anchor down a little bit because it seemed to be holding it in place [on the boat]. He went absolutely bonkers again and pushed himself through the bow rail and slid back into the water.
“I was trying to figure out ways of how to get it off if it didn’t slide off. I was thinking what the f*** do we do? But it all worked out.
“The customers reacted better than what a lot of people would have. The cameras were out, but they probably didn’t realise the danger we could have been in.
“We were lucky it was on the front of the boat and we had windscreens and hard tops blocking it. We were lucky it didn’t come into the back of the boat otherwise it could have a wildly different story.”