Video: Great White Shark Gives Florida Fishermen a Surprise

JACKSONVILLE, FL – A charter fishing expedition off Jacksonville’s coast over Christmas weekend turned into a hands-on lesson on the food chain when a great white shark managed to jump in on the action.

As a 25-pound red snapper was being reeled in, the shark helped itself to a bite and kept coming back for more. The entire close encounter was captured on video that Capt. Chad Starling, owner of Jacksonville Fishing Charters, posted on YouTube.

The Saturday trip, Starling explained on Facebook, wasn’t intended to be a shark fishing expedition. Those on board Starling’s boat were “bottom fishing specifically for red snapper,” he wrote. The snapper caught – minus the one the shark snagged – “were released due to the current federal closure.”

See Also:

• Rare Great White Shark Encounter Caught on Video
• Great White Attacks Fishing Boat
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• Betsy the Great White Shark Swimming in St. Pete Waters

Saturday’s great white encounter is rare in Florida waters. While the shark species isn’t unheard of in the Sunshine State, sightings are relatively rare.

The run-in, Starling said, came as quite a “surprise.”

Starling’s great white sighting isn’t the only one that has made headlines in the Sunshine State this year. Back in June, a couple captured a video of an estimated 2,000-pound great white in waters off Jupiter. In January, a great white attacked a fishing boat while tagged great whites, Katharine and Betsy, have also paid the state visits in 2015. News of Betsy’s arrival off of St. Petersburg’s coastline created quite a stir since Gulf of Mexico sightings tend to be especially rare because of the warmer water temperatures there.

YouTube screenshot/Team Buck Rogers