A group of fishermen have an "unbelievable" new tale of the one that got away – it was an orca.
Skipper Robbie Lewis says they thought they were hallucinating when the five-tonne creature decided to take a bite of their lure.
"I'd had a couple of energy drinks by that time and I thought I was hallucinating," he told Fairfax NZ News.
"I wasn't hallucinating. I've never heard of it, and I've done a lot of fishing. To see what we saw was unbelievable."
His boat, the eight-metre C Crazy 2, had just passed a pod of orca 65km off the coast of Gisborne.
"We had a couple of inquisitive ones [orca] start being nosy – one in particular started following us," says Rob Page.
After grabbing the line it began pulling so fast, Mr Page says it began smoking.
They wrestled with the creature for about 45 minutes, not wanting to lose the line. Eventually it broke, but only the lure and a small length were lost.
3 News