Great white shark surfaces off Venice coast near charter captain’s boat: ‘Just crazy’
Great white shark spotted in the Gulf
A Bay Area fishing captain and his wife captured a once-in-a-lifetime moment on camera when they were watching a pod of dolphins swimming by. FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon reports.
VENICE, Fla - A Bay Area fishing captain and his wife captured a once-in-a-lifetime moment on camera when they were watching a pod of dolphins swimming by.
Captain Brad Clark and his wife Yvette took some friends out fishing on Wednesday, January 7, when a great white shark appeared. While the sighting is rare, it isn't unheard of.
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What they're saying:
"They [our friends] had never been out in the Gulf before. We thought it would be nice to take them out on day fishing," Brad said.
The trip bought plenty of fish and a pod of dolphins leading their way.
"I was just filming and seeing all of the dolphins and trying to explain to the kids on the boat what these dolphins will do," said Yvette.
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But a moment later, a surprise guest surfaced: "Oh my gosh, look at that great white. That’s a great white!" Yvette said.
Big picture view:
Twenty-seven miles straight west of the Venice Jetty, the couple and their friends encountered a great white shark.
"It was a split second. The white came out from the side and kind of bumped into the side of the boat, and we circled around to make sure there was no injuries," Brad said.
But as quickly as it appeared, the shark disappeared back into the water.
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"We knew that there were a couple that had been pinged off the coast, but running into a great white like that and on the surface and able to see it like that was just crazy," said Yvette.
Why you should care:
"This is a legitimate sighting. I'm very confident. Having one 27 miles offshore here is a little unusual but not unprecedented. They rarely ever come in close to the beach, so no worries to swimmers," said Dr. Bob Hueter, who was the first director of Mote Marine Laboratory's Center for Shark Research before retiring.
Hueter is also an adviser for OCEARCH and has studied sharks for decades. OCEARCH tags and tracks sharks, and they've tagged around 110 great whites along the Atlantic Coast.
Hueter said about half a dozen great whites are currently in the waters of the Gulf — and it's common for them to be off our coast this time of year.
"As fall comes, as the water temperature drops, they move south and more than 60% of them, in our studies, come into the Gulf and spend time off the coast of Florida and even off of Louisiana, primarily well offshore 100 miles or more," said Hueter.
The backstory:
Nearly two years ago, Brad Clark and his wife also had the chance to swim with a great white shark with a researcher connected to the Discovery Channel. It happened in March 2024 off the coast of Venice where a 44-foot sperm whale had beached itself and died.
The whale was taken miles off the coast to let its body decompose, and that's where sharks, including great whites, were found feeding off its carcass.
Even after that, though, the Clarks and their friends left with a fishing tale few can tell.
"It just never happens, it’s a once in a lifetime thing to happen," said Brad.
What you can do:
To track sharks tagged by OCEARCH, click here.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon through Aquaholic Charters and world-renowned shark scientist Dr. Bob Hueter.