August 4, 2009 - Orange Beach, AL (OBA) - This past year has seen more
than its fair share of amazing fish and marine mammal stories coming out of Orange Beach.
Last October 31st, Capt. Eddie Hall and anglers on the Shady Lady
spotted about 200
Killer Whales 90 miles south of Orange Beach. On June
6th of this year, Lea Scruggs and his friends fishing on the Wahooter had
a close encounter with a
Beaked Whale about 35 miles south of Orange Beach.
And now, Capt. Chip Day of Chipper's Clipper and his fishing team
spotted a Great White Shark about
40 miles southeast of Perdido Pass.
While the picture doesn't do justice to the encounter,
the verbal descriptions from the experienced anglers
pretty much confirm it was a Great White sighting.
On July 25th, Capt Chip, Mate Curtis Bush and angler Joe Pruett got a late start on their
Saturday
trip due to a malfunctioning AC unit. The fix was in at 10am and
the team headed south into the Gulf of Mexico for a 12-hour
trip. They were bottom fishing in calm seas 40 miles south of
Orange Beach just after 3pm when Capt. Chip saw a large dark shadow about 200 feet away
swimming toward them. His first thought it was a mako shark, which
are common in the Gulf. As the
shadow in the water approached, the anglers could see fish jumping out of the
water ahead of it. Capt. Chip said, "You could see
a cluster of fish scurrying away about 30 feet ahead of the shadow, it was
spooky looking." Anglers with Amberjack on their lines started reeling faster to try and save their
catch from the approaching shark. While the shark followed the
anglers catch to the boat, he never tried to bite them or get aggressive. "He
was obviously not very hungry," said Capt. Chip. When he got close enough for the anglers to see him, the shadow they
expected to be blue, wasn't-- it was gray. When the shark got closer to
the boat he rolled over exposing his white belly but, more importantly,
Capt. Chip and Joe were able to observe the jagged line separating the
gray from the white on the shark's body. It was then they realized
they'd just had a close, rare encounter with a Great White Shark in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Joe Pruett spent eight years in the Navy and much of that time was spent in
the Pacific Ocean. While in the Pacific, he'd seen a number of Great White Sharks. Joe said
of his Gulf of Mexico encounter, "The
shark we saw fishing that day looked just like the Great Whites we used
to see in the Pacific." Capt. Chip Day is the Captain of the Charterboat Chipper's Clipper. Chip has been fishing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico for over
30
years. In that time, Chip has seen numerous makos and bull sharks,
but this is the first time he'd ever spotted a Great White. Great White Sharks are a protected species and it is extremely rare to
see one in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Great White Sharks are also known as white sharks, white pointers
and white death. The scientific name is Carcharodon carcharias. For more information on Great White Sharks visit:
The Florida Museum of Natural History
The City of Orange Beach's Coastal Resources Dept. is hosting a
"SHARKS!!!" presentation on August 11th at Live Bait at The Wharf.
Guest speaker is Dr. John Dindo from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The
price is $12 and includes food, drink tip and the talk. For more
information about this event call 251-981-1063.
Great White Shark Sighted Near Orange Beach 
