About 6am, the 77-year-old man set off to go fishing from a boat ramp on Point Road at Tuncurry in his 4.3 metre runabout.

The man headed out to sea via Wallis Lake entrance through a large swell of almost 2.5 metres.

Shortly after 7am, people on the Tuncurry breakwall spotted the man's boat being swamped by a wave, knocking him into the water.

When the boat washed up onto the beach, a witness retrieved a life jacket and threw it to the man but he disappeared under the water.

Emergency services attended and the man's body was recovered from a section of knee deep water near the breakwall.

Tuncurry is 110km south of Port Macquarie.