Catching a great white from the beach is rare.
Surf fishing for sharks continues to grow in popularity in places like Florida. There is no better way to relax than by sitting there waiting for a big mako or tiger shark to take your bait. Some rather large sharks are landed using this method every single year.
In addition to the two species we just mentioned, Florida anglers regularly catch bulls, blacktips, dogfish, threshers, and nurse sharks from the state's plentiful beaches. However, one predator is a rare catch both from a boat and from the beach and that is the top shark of them all, the great white. While great whites are found in Florida, you seldom hear about anglers catching them anymore since it's illegal to target them. Even then, accidental catches are rare.
Even rarer than catching a great white, is hooking into one from the beach. The odds of hooking into "Jaws" are astronomical these days, yet that is exactly what the anglers in this video accomplished while angling in Pensacola, Florida.
While catching a great white from land is not unheard of, it is exceedingly rare. Here at Wide Open Spaces, we have only heard of one or two instances of it in the last five years or so. There are so many species of shark swimming in the waters off Florida, the odds of your bait landing in front of the ocean's top predator are slim.
They had to release this shark quickly simply because Florida Fish and Wildlife has great whites on their list of species that must be released immediately upon an unexpected capture. It seems this group did an excellent job of doing just that.
As we expected, it looks like it was one heck of a fight to bring this monstrous fish to the beach. We cannot imagine the surprise a bunch of anglers from Idaho got when they learned the magnitude of what they had caught. It is a good thing they have video. Their friends back home probably would not believe this fish tale otherwise!
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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