A teenage angler found he had bitten off more than he could chew when a Ragged Tooth shark he had been trying to reel in from the shore at Plettenberg Bay turned on him.
The 15-year-old boy from Port Elizabeth was bitten on his legs at Central Beach around 9.30pm on Wednesday when he tried to release the two-metre long shark he had been battling to land for about 90 minutes.
National Sea Rescue Institute volunteers had completed their training for the day and were unwinding at their Plettenberg Bay rescue base when they saw the angler.
Ray Farnham, NSRI Plettenberg Bay station commander, said they watched as the "keen angler" fought for 90 minutes to land the shark.
When the angler attempted to release the shark back into the sea he grabbed hold of its tail fin, but the shark swung around and bit him.
"There was a lot of commotion because a wave broke on top of them and there was water and sand everywhere. Then someone went to help him."
Farnham said the shark swam back out to sea leaving the teenager injured on the shore with bite marks to both his legs and his torso.
He was taken to a local hospital in a stable condition for treatment and was released around midnight.
Farnham said the incident was not considered a "normal type of shark attack".
He appealed to anyone facing a similar situation to not touch the shark which would in most cases instinctively defend itself from capture.