As Northland fisherman Philip Wilson watched a 4m great white shark chomp into the decaying carcass of a whale, he was not fearful but in awe of the massive fish.
Mr Wilson, his wife Debbie and 16-year-old nephew Brad were just metres from the action that could have easily been seen on a shark documentary on TV.
The close-up encounter happened on Sunday about 3pm when the trio were fishing about 1km off Takou Bay, about 30km north of Kerikeri.
Mr Wilson, from nearby Tapuaetahi, said he spotted a "blob" floating in the water and went to investigate.
It quickly became clear the blob was a decaying whale, so badly decomposed the species could not be identified.