The Truth About Great Whites In Texas And The Greater Gulf of Mexico

The presence of great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico is undeniable.

And confirmation off the Texas coast has been proven.

In March 2021, we broke the story about Acadia, a 1,000-pound female great white tagged by research group Ocearch in Nova Scotia Sept. 2020.

With her satellite tag “pinging” about 140 miles off the Texas coast, she  “z-pinged” twice which means the transmitted did not give an exaction location.

Check out this super deep look at great whites in Texas and the Gulf on Higher Calling Wildlife.

Digging past easily accessible research data, there is fascinating information about great whites in the Gulf.

In a 2014 I wrote a piece for Tide called “Jaws Rising” that included an excerpt from Seasonal Distribution and Historic Trends in Abundance of White Sharks in the Western North Atlantic published by PLOS One.

It details redfish are among the items preferred by the Gulf’s great whites.

“Analysis of white shark stomach contents from this region are extremely limited, however, documented prey items include dolphins, sharks, red drum, sea turtles, and squid.”

Great whites feeding on redfish might seem at odds with the images we see of them throwing sea lions into the air in the northern Pacific and off the coast of South Africa but as time goes on, it seems there is much to learn about these intensely apex predators.

NOAA has some extremely interesting older data on great whites in the Gulf of Mexico. Their earliest recorded white shark was off the coast of Sarasota, Fla. on a set line in the winter of 1937. Another specimen was caught in the same area in 1943.

In February 1965, a female was captured in a net intended for bottlenose dolphins at Mullet Key near St. Petersburg. In addition, National Marine Fisheries Service officials reported 35 great whites as bycatch in the Japanese longline fishery in the Gulf from 1979 through 1982.

In the 1963 book Shadows In the Sea; Sharks, Skates & Rays, the presence of great whites in Texas waters as far back as the 1950s is mentioned.

A great white shark seven feet long was caught in 15 fathoms, 12 miles off of Port Aransas, TX  on Feb. 9, 1950. Seven days later, a second great white 11 feet, 4-inches long was caught in the same area. And 10 days later, a third, this one 12 feet, 2 inches long, was caught there. Yet, there has never been a previously reported catches in Texas waters.

The research of Ocearch has shown numerous tagged great whites using the Gulf of Mexico over the last decade but there are other sharks, not tagged showing up as well. In early March 2021, a 12 foot great white was caught and released on Pensacola Beach by a group of Idaho anglers fishing with Big John Shark Fishing Adventures. In 2015, Gabriel Smeby caught and released a nine-footer off of Panama City Beach, Fla.

And although these recent confirmed catches and scientific surveys of the past are insightful, what would a shark story be without a fisherman’s tale?

Don’t forget to check out this detailed podcast on great whites in the Gulf.

In 1998, “Wild” Bill Skinner, a Mexican bass and South American peacock bass fishing outfitter came fishing for bull redfish with me at Sabine Pass. Anyone who has spends time with me in the Gulf will eventually hear about sharks. Bill lit up when when sharks were mentioned and shared an interesting story.

“My family did deep sea shrimping off the Texas coast. And after we culled, I used to love to fish for sharks when I was a kid. There would be hundred around the boat sometimes,” Skinner said.

One year, he made a special giant hook and chain with the goal of catching a really big shark.

“Everyone else was asleep and I caught about a five-foot blacktip. I put it on the hook and chain and lowered it down in the super clear water. We were pretty far out in the Gulf,” Skinner said.

“There were a bunch of sharks swimming around it and then all of a sudden they all left-quickly.“

Skinner said an absolutely massive shark appeared and grabbed the hooked shark.

“It grabbed it in the middle and there probably wasn’t more than a foot or so hanging off each side of this giant shark’s mouth. It began to pull the boat and everyone woke up. We had to break the chain off. It was scary and years later when ‘”Jaws” came out I just knew that’s what I had seen that day,” he said.

I was the kid who saw “Jaws” and wanted to get in the water. I remember standing with my Dad at the end of the 61st St. Pier in Galveston at age 12 pondering if there were any great whites in the Gulf and even in Texas waters.

There definitely are now and if trends continue more are on the way.

Chester Moore

@thechestermoore on Instgram