A 73-year-old Australian fisherman says he caught a far bigger fish than he hoped for when a 2.7-metre (9-foot) great white shark leapt into his boat, knocking him off his feet.

Terry Selwood said on Monday that he was left with a badly bruised and bleeding right arm where the airborne shark struck him with a pectoral fin as it landed on him on the deck of the 4.5-metre (15-foot) power boat Saturday off Evans Head, north of Sydney.

Mr. Selwood sprung up on the gunnel at the bow of the boat to avoid the thrashing shark and steadied himself by clinging to the tubular metal frame of the sun shelter, known as a bimini.

Mr. Selwood radioed the Evans Head coast guard and stayed on the gunnel until a rescue boat arrived.