A fisherman who captured a video of a huge shark leapt out of the water on to the front of his boat, coming face to face with those on board, described it as “a crazy moment”.

Skipper Ryan Churches, owner of Churchy’s Charters in Whitianga in the Coromandel, recorded a Mako shark propelling itself on to the front of his fishing vessel which he uses to take up to five people on fishing trips from Whitianga wharf to catch kingfish, snapper and blue nose.

Those on board got a bigger catch than they were expecting when the Mako shark caught them by surprise and jumped right in front of their eyes on to the front of the boat, thrashing around on the front hood.

Mako sharks are world renowned jumpers, are nicknamed “blue dynamite”, and have been known to leap up to six meters out of the water. The sharks, which are abundant in New Zealand coastal waters, can grow up to four meters long.

The 2.5 meter shark remained on the Whitianga boat for several minutes before returning to its home in the ocean.

While they reacted with shouts of “whoa...” and “holy”, one shouted to “get a picture”.

Churches said the he was driving the boat taking five customers fishing for kingfish when the big catch landed itself.

“The shark got caught on the bait and then suddenly leapt out of the water right on to the boat.

We were all shocked but everyone reacted better than I imagined - we were safe as we were protected by the windshield at the front.

“Lucky that the shark didn't leap on the back of the boat as that is where everyone was fishing from so that would have been a different story - really dangerous.

“It was crazy - this has never happened before - I've never seen anything like it in all my years of being on the water.

He estimated its weight at 150 kg.

“It was on the boat for more than two minutes but then it lowered itself back in the water safely - it wasn't hurt so it was a happy outcome for everyone.

“My heart was racing - I had to sit down for a bit. Everyone was stunned. Then we took a few minutes, and then we just got back into fishing.”

When Church posted the video, hundreds reacted, saying it must have been “scary”.

One poster noted in the video that the crew had the toilet roll at the ready.

“Lucky that they have the toilet paper handy on the dash!”

The 7.7m boat, called Church, is equipped with safety glass windows, and 5 square meters of deck. The fishing is done from the back of the boat.

An influx of sharks is expected in the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel waters, predicted experts who have launched a study into why there has been an increase of great white sharks in the region in the last two summers.