"I got the hell out of there", Billy said, recounting the moment the shark lifted him and his surfboard about 50cm out of the water on Friday morning.

Billy was surfing with a mate about 10.15am in front of Old Bar Surf Club. He had just caught a wave and was paddling back out.

"A wave broke in front of me, I duck-dived under it, came up... and then it hit me like a bus".

Luckily, he and the board landed back in the water intact - and right way up - and Billy paddled like mad to get back to shore.

He's seen plenty of sharks in his 40 years, but this was the first time he's had a close encounter, and he hopes it will be the last.

He agrees it was "a bit dodgy" being in the water on Friday, given its murky colour as a result of last week's flood event. And, he agrees there were a lot of bait fish around - mostly mullet.

"But if you waited for perfect water before you went surfing, you'd never get out there," he said.

Billy was back in the water at Saltwater on Sunday and reckons it was "a bit scary... especially every time I brushed past a piece of weed".

A professional fishermen by trade, working out of the Manning River, Billy believes controls on shark fishing are contributing to the recent spate of shark attacks in Australian waters.