A man has died after being swept into the ocean while fishing from rocks at Lake Macquarie in the New South Wales Hunter region.

The 35-year-old man was fishing with two friends at Redhead Bluff on Saturday afternoon when he was hit by a wave and washed into the sea, police said.

The man’s friends raised the alarm and emergency services conducted a search of the area.

They found the man near a rock ledge and he was pronounced dead at the scene.