These fishermen reeled in a big one off the Florida coast. It was a great white shark
Most people see a great white shark from the safety of their own couch.
Not this crew.
A group of friends from Idaho who traveled to Portofino Island March 3 on a fishing expedition and came back with memories of a lifetime.
On video posted last week to Big John Shark Fishing Adventures’ Facebook page, charter captain John McLean Jr. captured snippets of their incredible journey. An hour or so into the saltwater fishing trip, they reeled in a great white in the shallows.
Even the captain was impressed.
“I told them, ‘I’ve been doing this for five years and you guys just caught a great white about an hour and a half into the trip,’” McLean told the Pensacola News Journal. “The coolest part with it for me is, you never know what’s going to be on the other end of the line. So this was just so unique and obviously a catch of a lifetime.“
After being reeled in, the roughly 12-foot, 1,200-pound shark violently thrashes about as the waves crash around it. A man with a headlamp stands mere feet away in the water about a foot or so deep.
“You guys just caught a great white,” says someone else. “That is something you will never see. Oh my God.”
McLean added that the hook was removed and the shark was released shortly after and there was no blood.
Great whites are not endangered but are a protected species and are listed as vulnerable by the NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It is unclear if this shark was tagged as part of the ongoing OSEARCH research tracking program in the Atlantic Ocean.
