Oscar Ford had a gut feeling that his latest catch was something extraordinary.

However, he never dreamed it would turn out to be a great white shark.

Ford, a carpenter from Victoria, was out on the waters near Barwon Heads with three cousins, two of whom were children, when he hooked the massive fish on a Sunday outing.

As cameras captured the thrilling moment, Ford exclaimed in disbelief, “It’s a f—ing white, holy shh, holy crap, I’ve caught a white off Barwon Heads!”

The carpenter engaged in a grueling battle for over half an hour to reel the shark in close, marking an unforgettable day on the water.

Every moment of the once-in-a-lifetime experience was captured on an array of GoPro cameras.

“He’s biting the boat, get that on film, get that on film,” he can be heard saying.

The fishers even dunked one of the cameras into the water for an incredible closer look at the beast.

“I was just in disbelief, I was like this is insane, I would never have thought this would happen,” Ford told 9News.

“I had so much emotion, so much adrenaline running through me.

“I was feeling a million different emotions, I was feeling on top of the world.”

Ford pushed off Ocean Grove early on Sunday to fish for tuna but switched to a snapper mark near Barwon Heads after a quiet few hours to set a bait balloon.

“We chucked it out and 45 minutes later we see a fin sort of just circling the balloon and then out of nowhere it just started splashing the water, going crazy,” he said.

Great whites are a protected species so Ford never brought his catch on board, cutting it loose to go free.

“As soon as we saw it we were going crazy, it was just such an amazing experience to see such a big beautiful animal,” he said.