An Australian man hoping for some good fishing got more than he bargained for Friday when he encountered a massive great white shark circling his boat. James Miller was fishing with his friend Sam Shellabear near Garden Island in Western Australia when the 16-foot great white approached.

"It was swimming around the boat for almost half an hour and even took one of the fish we'd caught," Miller, 21, told the West Australian. "It was pretty cool."

Miller managed to capture video of the shark which he later uploaded. In the footage, the men can be heard discussing whether they should leave as the giant shark hung around the boat.

"We might have to get out of here," one of the men said. "He's getting a bit more curious. It looked at me! Holy [expletive] he just looked me right in the eye!"

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Ultimately, the fishermen decided to stick it out and stay in the area.

"It was pretty surreal," Miller told the West Australian. "I can't really put into words what it felt like. I'd seen people encounter sharks like this on TV but until it happens to you, you don't have any real idea of what it was like. It was just so awesome."

Sharks, including great whites, aren't an uncommon sight in the waters off Western Australia. Local governments considered culling the creatures in the region after a 17-year-old surfer was killed in an attack in April. Laeticia Marie Brouwer was surfing with her father in Western Australia when she was mauled by a shark who bit off one of her legs. She later died of her injuries.

"Anyone who goes diving or fishing or swimming on any beach between Perth and Esperance is taking a risk," abalone diver and shark attack survivor Greg Pickering told ABC News Australia in April. "I don't like to alarm people, but they've got to realize that if they go in the water, there's a reasonable chance that they could run into a shark."

Brouwer's death sparked a debate over whether culling the sharks was necessary. The proposal was eventually rejected by Western Australia's Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly.

"We're not going down the path of a cull," Kelly told ABC Perth Radio. "There's no evidence that it actually makes our beaches safer."

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