Great White caught

Shark Estimated to be 10 Feet, 400 Pounds

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Thirty years of fishing together didn't prepare Jimmy Adelsperger and Joe Noda for what they caught off the coast last weekend.

The St. Augustine friends began fishing together when they were around 14 years old. They've hooked fish well over 100 pounds before.

"Usually it's wahoo, kingfish, dolphin, stuff like that," said Noda.
That's how the pair began their fishing trip off the coast of St. Augustine Saturday.
They loaded up Adelsperger's 26-foot fishing boat, the Jaw Breaker, and headed off shore.

They said about 60 miles out, where the water was roughly 300 feet deep, they felt something bite the line.
"Got a profile look, and we knew it was a shark," said Noda.
For two hours, Adelsperger wrangled with the huge fish, while Noda snapped pictures with his camera phone. Eventually, the shark was alongside the boat and the two said they were able to finally get a good look at it.
"At that time, we ID'd it as a
great white. It had to be between 400 to 600 pounds. He was eight to ten feet long!" Noda said.

"He was big, real big," said Adelsperger.
They hooked the fish using a Penn International 50 wide--a relatively small rod for the size of the catch, Noda said.
Adelsperger said the great white was too powerful, too large for the fishermen to reel aboard, so they had to cut the line and let it swim away.

Noda said the last time he'd heard of someone hooking a great white off the First Coast was several years ago.
In early 2010, three great white sharks electronically tagged by scientists in Cape Cod were tracked off the coast of Jacksonville.

The tagged sharks were in deep water, and none were closer than 50 miles off shore.

"We've seen tiger sharks out there, big bull sharks. As far as a great white? They just go where they want to go, I think," Noda said.
The two know they'll at least have great photos--and a great story to tell. They say the experience was more thrilling than terrifying.

"I think it's a little fascinating. You look at this big old fish and know he's a predator. He's huge. You kind of have a sense of awe about the whole thing," Noda said.

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