Great white shark leaps out of water to snatch fish off family's line

A family fishing in Cape Cod were stunned when a great white shark leaped out of the water to snatch a fish off their line.

Doug Nelson caught the close encounter on video, in which the shark flips out of the water as it snatches the fish, coming close to hitting its tail on the edge of the boat. Nelson’s son Jack can be seen jumping back as the shark emerges.

After the encounter, Nelson told New England Cable News it “gave us a pretty good scare”.

Marc Costa, the captain of the Columbia Sportfishing vessel the family were fishing off, said that boat was about five kilometres west of Wellfeet in Cape Cod, Massachusetts when they encountered the shark.

Costa told the Cape Cod Times the experience “just left everyone in awe”.

The shark has been confirmed as a great white by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and Marc Costa.

Great whites have been returning to the area thanks to federal protections which have boosted seal populations.