A reef shark has exacted revenge on a fisherman, sinking its razor sharp teeth into his shoulder as he tried to wrangle it into a boat off Queensland.
The 55-year-old is recovering in hospital after the shark turned on a group of fishermen who hooked it at Swains Reef, off Yeppoon, on Monday.
But the shark put up a fight, attacking the man as both went over the side of a small tender 500 metres away from their charter fishing vessel.
Another fisherman with the victim said the group had been having a great day until they caught the feisty shark.
"Mozzie thought he could bloody wrangle it in the boat and he slipped out over the side and, yeah, as he went over the side the shark grabbed hold of the top of his arm," the unnamed man told Seven News.
"Yeah (we) pulled him back into the boat, yeah, and then we come straight back to the main boat and they administered bloody first aid, yeah."
The victim was returned to the mainland early on Tuesday, where he was filmed walking around with a bandage on his shoulder, shaking hands with emergency personnel sent to help him.
It was the third shark attack in as many weeks in Queensland.
Ambulance supervisor Brad Meyers said the injured man was in remarkably good spirits despite his ordeal.
"He stated that he caught a large reef shark and as he went to pull it on board it turned and bit him on the upper arm," he told reporters.
"Despite a large wound to his upper arm he's in remarkable condition, very joyful."
On September 20, 12-year-old Hannah Papps from Melbourne received a life-threatening wound to her right leg while swimming at Cid Harbour in the Whitsundays.
A day earlier, Tasmanian Justine Barwick, 46, was bitten on her left thigh while snorkelling in the same area.
Those two attacks sparked a shark baiting operation in the Whitsundays.
Six sharks were killed before the hooks were taken out of the water a week after the girl and woman were attacked.
