“I was anticipating fishing for tailor, but we ended up trying to fish a man out of the rocks instead,” Andy said.

Around 7.30, Andy and his mate Victor Buchanan had gotten halfway down the Nambucca Heads breakwall when a man bolted up to him and begged him for assistance.

“We thought this Indian fella might have had a big fish that he needed help with,” Andy said. 

As the pair scrambled over the rocks they saw a pair of feet sticking up out of an impossibly small crevice.

“We realised that a guy had gotten himself wedged upside down in the rocks,” Andy said.

“I still don’t know how he managed to get in that position, but the best way to describe it would be that he was like a bent banana.

“He was about six foot into the rocks. Pretty much where his head was laying was about high-tide water level mark.”

Andy said he was able to talk to the man and found out that the 47-year-old had chased a tailor he’d just caught down the hole as it slipped out of his grip.

“He had really good communication still after being down the rocks for so long,” Andy said.

The man was in good humour despite his precarious position, joking with his rescuers that if he did die, he’d “sure as hell not be coming back as a crab”.

The pair, along with a couple of other men, tried for an hour to wrangle the upside down man out of the cavity, but the tide was coming in so the decision was made to call emergency services.

Police, NSW Ambulance, NSW Fire and Rescue, Volunteer Rescue Association and two SES units attended the incident to retrieve the man before high tide at 11.47pm.

“Luckily he fell down there at low tide,” Andy said.

The man was rescued by the Vertical Response Team and ambulance just after 11pm.

He was treated at the scene for mild hypothermia and other minor injuries before being taken to hospital.

Marine Area Commander, Superintendent Mark Hutchings, said it was important for rock anglers to always remain alert.

“I would urge rock anglers to remember that, whatever happens while you are fishing, nothing is worth risking your life,” he said.

Andy shies away from any fuss about his efforts on the night.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a hero, it’s just another good deed done for the day,” Andy said.