A beach fisherman has landed a near-threatened, four-metre tiger shark after an epic three-hour effort to reel in the man-eating fish.

The fourth-largest shark, the tiger shark is known to spend time in shallow, warm water and attack humans in greater frequency than all sharks except the great white. It mainly eats other fish.

• Rhino rampages through Nepalese town
• Predatory snake sparks bizarre hunt in QLD

Max Muggeriedge, 19, caught the shark on Saturday at about 7.15am on the Tweed Coast near the Gold Coast in Queensland, News.com.au reports.

“About 20 seconds into the fight I realised I had maybe bitten off a little bit more than I could chew,” he said.

“My hands are covered in blood blisters and it mentally broke me because there were a few times when I had it so close to shore and then it would just take out another 600-metre run,” he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

After landing the fish at 10.30am he released it after fulfilling “a life-long goal”.

“Catching something like this has certainly been a life-long goal,” he said.