SYDNEY, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A group of Australian fishermen have escaped an encounter with a "massive" shark by warding it off with a household broom.

The Salty Dog Charters company based 300 km west of Melbourne in Port Fairy were out on a fishing trip when a large shark took an interest in their boat.

In a video posted by the company on social media the large Great White is seen circling the boat, occasionally trying to take a bite out of it and getting closer to the group of men on board.

Daniel Hoey, owner and operator of Salty Dog Charters, said he did not expect to see any sharks on the trip.

"I was a little bit surprised when we did see it," Hoey told News Limited on Friday.

"We were out there searching for yellowtail kingfish, and to do some research work to put some satellite tags in them, and this shark turned up and hung around."

He said the shark could smell the bait on the boat meant for the kingfish.

The video shows Hoey fending the shark off with a red broom multiple times as it returns to investigate the boat further.

It was not the first time Hoey has had to ward off a large shark with a similar video posted in October 2016 showing the fisherman using the same red broom to scare off a huge 5.5-meter Great White.

He said the broom had become his tool of choice because it did not hurt the sharks.

"It's just an easy piece of equipment to push them away from the motor so they don't bite it," he said.

"They're a little bit unnerving. We weren't scared, but a little unnerved."