Striking drone footage has emerged of a shark circling an 8.5-metre patrol boat while prowling through the water.

Filmmaker Dave Riggs, who makes documentaries about sharks, caught the great white on tape on Friday and posted the video on Facebook.

"Big fish," he captioned it.

Mr Riggs spotted the shark lurking about 50 metres from Fourth Beach in Esperance.

"I got a tip-off that a shark was out at Westies so I grabbed my drone and put it up," Mr Riggs told PerthNow.

"And what I got is this footage.