Claudia Sánchez was fishing for the first time in Northland's Rangiputa Harbour when she caught a kingfish, but that wouldn't end up being her biggest catch.
"I felt like this really strong tug on the line and I thought it was the king fish. But, I almost fell into the water, so my friend had to hold on to my waist and then we saw the sharks."
The incredible encounter, captured on video, shows two sharks, three to four metres long, fighting over the kingfish on Sánchez's line.
"I was on the boat with my friend and his dad, they're very keen fisherman. They've never seen anything like that before in their lives."
She said the encounter happened only ten minutes away from shore where people were swimming.
Sánchez gets sea sick, so it was her first time fishing on a boat and it wasn't until the battle was over that she realised how rare it was.