A group of Florida fishermen got their very own Jaws moment this weekend, when a 14-foot great white shark swam up to their boat and snatched a fish off their line.
Capt. Tony Peeples of Southern Style Charters took a group of four men fishing off Amelia Island on Saturday when they had a run in with the monster shark.
Peeples told Action News Jax that he was leaning over the side of the boat, with his hands in the water, when one of the men yelled out that he had a shark on his line.
A group of fishermen had a run-in with this 14-foot great white shark off the coast of Amelia Island, Florida on Saturday
The boat’s captain says the shark came up and ate a 50-pound drum fish off their line
The fishermen recorded the shark swimming under the boat. Experts say it’s not uncommon to see great white sharks that far south this time of year
‘I just got through bending over on that side of the boat releasing a fish,’ Peeples said. ‘I kind of stood up and looked and said, “No, it ain’t … Yeah, it is.”‘
Peeples says the shark swam under the boat and bit a 50-pound drum fish in half. It swam out, but then circled back to try and eat the other half.
The shark briefly got caught on their line before getting away.
In his 30 years as a fishing boat captain, Tony Peeples (pictured) said he’s never seen a great white as large as the one he saw on Saturday in Florida waters
The charter company later posted video of the encounter to their Facebook account, joking that there was ‘a minnow at the back of the boat’.
In his 30 years as a fishing boat captain, Peeples says he’s seen many sharks but none as big as the one he saw on Saturday.
‘It’s kind of a humbling experience when you look down and see something that big three feet from you,’ Peeples said.
Chris Fischer, a shark expert with OCEARCH, told Action News Jax that’s normal to see great whites in Florida waters in the winter months, when the water gets cooler.
They begin to move north in April or May, spending the summers off New England and Canada where there’s a bumper crop of seals.
Fischer said it’s a good to have great whites in Florida waters since they help strengthen the local fish populations by eating weak and dying fish.