Great white shark circles Nick and Peter Powell off Thirteenth Beach

A 5m long great white shark circled a pair of fisherman near Barwon Heads. WATCH THE VIDEO.

A father-son duo were fishing off Thirteenth Beach when they had an encounter with a 5m great white shark. Picture: Nick Powell

A father and son have come face to face with a 5m long great white shark, with the giant predator circling their boat near Barwon Heads.

Avid fishermen Nick Powell and his father Peter were about a kilometre from the Bluff at Thirteenth Beach on Monday evening, when they were confronted by the “beast” in 20m deep water and captured the encounter on camera.

“We’d just picked up a big school of Kingfish,” Nick said.

“I looked over the side of the boat and could just see something huge coming up from the depths with its head facing the boat.

“Initially, I thought it was a whale because of its size.

“Then it levelled out and I could see it.”

Nick has been fishing almost daily for more than 20 years and Peter has been an angler for at least 50.

Nick said they both saw sharks pretty regularly – but never anything like this.

“(We see) lots of sevengill sharks,” he said.

“We caught a 30kg mako shark on Saturday.”

Nick said the shark was as long as his 5.25m boat and more than a metre wide.

“(It was) just a proper beast,” he said.

Nick said while he and his father got a shock, they weren’t scared.

“He seemed curious, just sussing the boat out … almost gentle,” he said

“We just watched it for five minutes.

“It was such a special moment, definitely once in a lifetime.”

The sighting comes after a another great white shark was reported closer to shore at the same beach on February 22.

A witness said he estimated the 5m long shark was about 100m from where he was surfing at Thirteenth.

Originally published as Great white shark circles Nick and Peter Powell off Thirteenth Beach