Great white shark attacks NSW fisherman's boat

A NSW man has described the terrifying moment a great white shark more than half the size of his boat rammed the vessel repeatedly and attacked its motor.

Andrew Crust, 36, and his father Stephen, 63, were fishing on Lake Macquarie on Sunday morning when a 3.5m shark gave him "a bloody big fright", The Central Coast Gosford Express Advocate reports.

The Lake Munmorah fisherman said he was washing his hands after throwing berley off the side of his 6m boat when he spotted the predator.

"It was big enough to take an arm off or even kill you," Mr Crust said.

"And it kept coming back rocking the boat, giving it a bloody good shove."

One of his photos show the shark chewing on the fishing boat's outboard motor and another shows the damage.

Determined to take revenge the fisherman quickly prepared his deep-sea fishing rod and hooked the great white.

He filmed his father doing battle with the enormous fish but after an intense 30-minute tug of war the shark snapped the line and left the pair and their boat alone.

Mr Crust said his dad was still shaking an hour after the "big one" got away.

It was the fourth sighting of a great white in Lake Macquarie since September.