Fisherman Shane Bernard saved two girls from drowning at the Mira Gut Beach. (Adam Burns/CBC)

A fisherman from Waycobah First Nation in Whycogomagh rescued two young girls who got into trouble while swimming at a Cape Breton beach Sunday.

Four girls had waded beyond the sandbar at Mira Gut Beach, about 27 kilometres outside Sydney, when the tide started to rush in.

Shane Bernard, 32, was swimming with his four-year-old son when he heard the girls calling for help.

"A lot was going through my mind, right? Like, 'Is this really happening? Is this really going on?' And I wasn't really sure if it was this serious, until I got there," Bernard said Monday.

"That's when I realized that it was really that serious because I could see the fear in these kids's eyes, right? Like, they were really scared."

Bernard said he grabbed two girls and began treading water. Beach lifeguards arrived a few minutes later and rescued the other two girls.

No one was hurt in the incident.