Just noticed this story on nineMSM

A teenage fisherman has told how he caught a shark only to have it perform a "death roll" and knock his boat keys into the water, leaving him stranded.

Luke Breneger, 17, was fishing with mate Steve Bleakley, 18, near the NSW central coast town of Killcare on Sunday when the pair caught hold of the 1.2m gummy shark.

The teenagers battled their catch for half an hour until finally hauling it onto Luke's 4.2m lure-fishing boat, where the shark made it clear the fight was not over.

"I tail-gripped it, but it started thrashing around … and as soon as it hit the floor it went crazy," Luke told ninemsn.

"It started this death roll and we thought, 'hey, it's going to break something'."

But the shark instead became entangled in a wire attached to the keys, wrapping the line around itself until it had yanked the keys from the ignition and pitched them off the side of the boat.

The teenagers tried to stop the shark's spin but it was too late.

"I wound up having to go all UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] and jump on it … I got it in a paralyser grip," Luke said.

"And just as that happened, the line came out."

The gummy shark — a species not known for having powerful teeth — still managed to bite Luke twice but did not pierce his skin.

The stranded teenagers later released the shark after it had calmed down then decided not to call for help straight away.

"We were catching some good fish, so we thought we'd just hang for a bit," Luke said.

When they finally tried to call for help they found their radio signal was too weak to make a transmission.

Finally, after two-and-a-half hours, they used a flare to hail a passing cruiser, which radioed police for help.

Luke joked his initial attempts to explain to police what had happened "fell on deaf ears without the shark to prove it", but the pair were eventually ferried back to shore.

The teenager, who has plans to become a tournament fisherman, was back at school today retelling the unlikely yarn to his peers.

"It's another reason for people to carry a spare set of keys," he said.

Had to laugh.. bet they are glad it wasn't a Mako...