Schoolies rescued from shark-infested waters off Phillip Island

A hero fisherman has landed a haul more than he bargained for after rescuing two inflatable flamingos, a unicorn, a dinosaur and four thankful Schoolies.

Chloe Musgrave, Katie Herft, Taylor McCracken and Haylee Payne were aboard four large inflatable creatures and drifting "helplessly" into a strong current in shark-infested waters off Phillip Island yesterday when fisherman Alex King spotted them and came to their rescue.

"We thought it’d be a good idea to get photos for our Instagram, suddenly we were out too far and couldn’t get back,” Chloe told 9NEWS.

"Haylee was crying, Taylor was having a panic attack, it was scary!"

"We saw a boat coming this way and she started screaming out 'SOS, help us, help us'," Katie said.

The girls panicked when they heard the waters were renowned for sharks.

"I thought about my parents, I thought 'they won't be happy if I don't come back from Schoolies'," Chloe said.

Haylee, the last to be rescued, said she felt "pretty scared" during the whole ordeal.

"I was ready to give myself away to the sharks [being the only one in the water]," she said.

Mr King shared his heroic rescue to his Facebook page, advising others to “be safe on the water, no matter what vessel you are in”.

"The wind picked up and blew them into the channel and started sweeping them out. When they found out how deep the water was, they started to panic a bit," Mr King said.

"Anywhere in southern Port Phillip Bay, there's currents so just make sure whatever vessel you're in, ensure you've got the equipment to get yourself back in."

Mr King laughed off suggestions he was a heroic saviour, saying he was simply "squid fishing and the Schoolies happened to interrupt it".

Did you have a horror schoolies moment this year? Email contact@9news.com.au

The group was eventually towed back to safety.

Their adventure has garnered plenty of comments on social media with fishing puns taking centre stage.

"I'm coming fishing with you, plenty of fish in the sea," one user said.

"What lure did you use," another said.