Two Great White Sharks tagged off Massachusetts Coast!

[Mark Ray]

Wow, the first time a Great White has been tagged in the Atlantic Ocean! I never realized that. Anyone ever ran into one that far north? I know South Carolina DNR found a dead female Great White near the Morris Island Lighthouse off the Coast of Charleston earlier this year. Heres a link to the story.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/06/mas...ef=igoogle_cnn

[Henrique38]

I saw one at the Poormans about 18 years ago while chunking for tuna. Swam right under the boat and kept going. Most have been 20 feet long. Looked like an airplane with his big pectorals spread out.

[Deep C]

Seen a few off Jersey... They seem to prefer cooler water so mass seems logical...

I'm sure they are probably talking about scientific type tags cause they have been tagged on the atlantic side of Capetown South Africa. They are truly majestic animals. Had the oportunity to swim with them at Gaansbai and seen em working seals in Mosselbai and again at Seal Island in False Bay down there.

[Relentlessfishing]

Seals are the exact reason these animals are there. The colony of seals at MONOMOY island has become extremely populated, it really is just the natural progression of the problem. To much food for those animals to pass by. I heard one was only 200 hundred yards off the beach when it was tagged, swimming anyone???

[Fortunate One]

Mark,

They're more common in these waters than people think.

It's not uncommon to hear of fishermen coming across them feeding on a whale carcass.

It's also not that uncommon for fishermen to see them while shark fishing.

In 2004 a 1700 lb 14' Great White found its way into a lagoon at Cape Cod. It stayed there for 2 weeks. Talk about an inshore sighting.


http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/marin...hite_shark.htm

Don't forget "Jaws" was actually filmed off of Martha's Vineyard.

[BIGJAHOOTIE]

LOVE THESE APEX PREDATORS. BET THERE NEAR OUR VERSION OF SEAL ISLAND IN MESKEGIT.....
LARRYS B FAVORITE BEACH



JA-HOOTIE

[Mark Ray]

Has anyone heard of anyone actually catching one there?

[Deep C]

I caught one off jersey about 600lbs... Had another slob hooked up here too. Never really "tried" for them here...

In south africa I caught one pushing 1200 lbs and the guy I was with got one about 1500... Both were released but that crazy bastard yanked a tooth out of mine for a souvenir. It was an upper but one of the ones close to the side of the mouth rather than one of the jumbo center ones. My wife had it gold capped for me but I'm not much into the Mr. T look...

[Mark Ray]

I should have known that I didn't have to look much further than our very own Deep C. Frank Mundus who???

[Deep C]

Hardly a Mundus... He was an animal. Killed a lot of fish. I married a gal from Cape Town and whites are a local "Attraction"... The ones in False Bay are the ones you see in Air Jaws. Before all the kinder gentler attention they get now they were looked at as real pests by the fishermen down there.
Lots of boats used to get attacked along with surfers. The guy I fished with down there was a commercial guy after work by day as a high school teacher. He and his family kind of were like the local Mundus's if you will. For years they "cleared out" trouble individuals...
Theres a pic circulating on the net of a guy in a Kayak with a big one following him. Thats on the other side of the false bay near Macassar beach, a popular surfing spot. Thats where I caught mine...
My inlaws have a beach house an hour away at a place called Hermannus... There used to be a whaling port there and whites were regularly caught there right off the rocks. If you continue east another ten or so minutes you get to Gansbai where there is another pair of "seal islands". Most of the African footage you see of guys in cages or free swimming with them takes place there... The sharks are tamer and are primarily focused on new born seals making their way to the water for the first time. No airing out usually though. The young seals are pretty stupid and easy prey compared to the larger ones at seal island.

Fishing for makos off Jersey, several are sighted each year and a few get caught... I've only hooked two over thirty two seasons but seen several. They are not the eating machines you might think they are. Their preferences of what to eat surprised me over in Africa. Though I had nice skipjacks, yellowfin racks, and yellowtails they turned their nose up at it. The guy that put me on the one I got taught me a trick... A big hook with a bunch of sardines hooked through the eyes was the ticket...
There was one taken at SJ SHark this year mistaken as a mako or porbeagle... Unfortunately it was a white and I'd imagine some serious fines will be levied. Two years ago a similar situation occured and that gy did get popped hard.