The guys at Outcast Sport Fishing have done it again. Captain Chip Michalove and crew have been wowing us for a few years now as Beaufort County’s very own daredevil shark wranglers bringing in some seriously huge great whites, tigers and hammerhead sharks, sometimes within sight of the shore; and now they’ve caught and tagged the largest male great white ever tagged in the Atlantic Ocean.
There’s nothing daredevil to their tactics…it’s just that they’re brave enough to go out and pull in 2,600 lb great white sharks, tagging them and releasing them. Not something for the squeamish, indeed.
Friday was a big day for the crew, catching seven great whites in 8 hours. “Amazing day,” Michalove posted on Outcast’s Facebook page.
After going through some dry times in their search for great whites just off of the coast of Beaufort, their luck had changed. “Hooked 7, tagged 4. I haven’t seen a great white shark in over a month,” Michalove said. “We’ve spent 40 hours chumming prior to this day, and not even a sighting or a fly-by.”
The Captain said that by 9am the crew tagged their first great white, a 9 foot long male. (male great whites are smaller than females)
Forty-five minutes later they were on another great white, then another, and another and another.
They’re baaaaaack.
With such success in their pockets, they debated going home and ending their day early.
“We’ll just give it an hour,” he said, and thirty minutes later, “we had a hog swim up and take it.”
It turned out to be the largest male tagged in the Atlantic at approximately 2,600 pounds.
That’s one big dude.
“We’ve tagged 3 females in years before that were over 3,000 pounds, but males are typically much smaller,” he added.
I “can’t believe this place is so loaded,” with great white sharks.
Neither can we.
You can follow Outcast Sport Fishing and stay in-the-know about Beaufort’s sharks here.
