Katharine (Great White ) Crusing East Coast

These sharks love the Carolina's and Cape cod/RI parts.

 

I'll tell you I never cared about sharks and still don't. But, every year I see more and more seals on the east coast, something I never thought I would see when I was a kid. Yesterday there were two swimming around me in OCMD, just makes you think.

 

There are like 80 or so seals in Sandy Hook NJ now and Barnegat inlet has a bunch that chill by deep water drop offs (the sod banks).
Monday morning I definitely saw a whitey aggressively chasing something 100ft in front of me. There was about 5ft between the dorsal and tail. I figured it was preoccupied so I kept on surfing.

 

I woulda been done after that. you're better than I am

 

It may have been a white, but the water is cold for them this time of year... What would be scary is if the seals stuck around in the summer (ie. cape cod)
White's generally don't hang in water under mid 50's.

 

There were seals hanging at an island part of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel this summer.

 

i think these seals might be able to migrate down to sc our water temps seem ideal for the seals. the great whites love our coast!!

 

Theres more seals cause humans are killing all the sharks. So inevitably the food they eat is gonna have a population spike.

And in regards to nynj's comment, yeah you can tell yourself they dont like the cold water, but having grown up in the red triangle of california, you sir are very wrong. The water in northern california never really gets above mid 50's and they love it there. But i understand we tell ourselves things to make us feel better. Hell i used to not eat fish so that i wouldn't have any shark food in my system, in the hopes they'd choose they guy next to me who just chowed down plate after plate of sushi rolls! haha

 

Couple reasons why you are wrong.
1st - Most sharks do not eat seals. Whites do and people are not killing them (endangered). The White shark population has been growing over the last 20 years, so your theory is incorrect.

2nd - Northern Cali water temps don't get above the 50's, but they get below the 50's either. Keeping them in the temp range for whites year round. We are in the low 40's and will be 30's soon. Much colder than where the sharks hang out... Look at the Ocearch tracker. Why do you think the sharks leave Cape Cod every November and head south? You can actually look at every shark they have tagged all over the world. I bet you they are all in water temp from 50's-70's 99% of the time.
I'm not saying a shark won't come around when the water is this cold, but t is extremely rare.

 

You think the countries that are still fining sharks are gonna just throw the great whites back?

And they most definitely do drop into the 40's in northern cali. I grew up there, spent many winters and springs (actually water temps colder in spring from the upwelling) in that water. Admittedly i dont know d!ck bout your guy's water over there. But i do know a great white can and will go pretty much where ever it wants. Although i have heard the atlantic whites feed on the bigger fish vs the pacific who eat the seals. However i still stick to my argument that the knocking off of the predetors in the oceans food chain has thrown the balance way off. And thats why you see the influx of prey animals.

They have a shark tracker for the whites there? thats cool. they drop into the deep water when they leave like they do in the pacific? I live on maui now and they have a tracker site for the tiger sharks they've managed to tag. We've had a few incidents this past year.

 

I do not think whites are effected by finning.. They were over fished in the 80's, but since then their #'s have risen steadily.

The temp may dip in to the 40's, but it's not the norm. Check out the Norcal water temps for the coldest months.
http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/cpac.html

Yeah. They started tracking sharks here 2 years ago. It's actually awesome.
They seem to come to Cape Cod in the late Summer/Fall. Then head south and separate. But every year they all come back to the same spot. I's really interesting.

 

What I saw Monday was like a 99.9% positive id. The fin and tail were tell tale color and shape. I was staring right at it, without any chop or sets to obstruct or interrupt my view. It was an aggressive, b-line breach that extended about 15 ft, parallel to the shoreline directly in front of me. The water was murky and you couldn't see your feet while sitting. Nothing happened before or after at all. If I sensed that I was being checked out I would have calmly exited the water for sure. On a side note there was a huge body of striped bass around a week ago.

 

If I was a big shark, I would have my dorsal fin shaped to look exactly like a pelican.

 

Did u ever smoke pelicans?

 

That's nuts and your balls are way bigger than mine... I wasn't implying that you were wrong or making it up, just that it's rare. It is definitely possible and you seem to know what you saw.

There was a body of bass that moved in. I was planning on cod fishing last week and ending up stopping and jigging bass all morning. Had to through them back (season's over), but it was fun. Latest in the year I've ever caught bass.

 

They've already proven that great whites travel thousands of miles in the Pacific to mate and give birth. In fact the Hawaiian Islands is one of the areas they go to give birth.

Probably more less the same scenario in the Atlantic... they mate in colder waters then travel south toward the Caribbean to give birth.

Back about a year or so ago a guy was filming himself spear fishing in Sebastian when a great white all of a sudden just showed up out of nowhere.

Actually just found the vid.... 3 min mark is when whitey shows up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzPdUAOYWI

 

Yeah whities are a trip man. They are cruisers. It helps that the only other known killer of whites are orcas. And when one white dies the rest in the area scatter.

And if you look at that chart again, im from bodega bay. Spent 10ish years surfing those waters. Salmon creek was the go to. At one point it seemed we'd have a white attack every 2 years at salmon.
Those are averages so you have to assume the water will range a few degrees plus or minus of those numbers, bodega bay being in the low 50's the temps would most definitely be in the upper 40's at least a handful of times a month. I didnt wear a 6/5/4 hooded wetsuit for no reason bu. Im not saying they hit east coast temps by any means. Sh!t you guys get snow on the beach. F that. I dont do cold well, thats why i moved to the islands.

 

I know they dip, but the actual water temps stay above 50. You can go up to Oregon and they still stay in the 50's. Upwelling may occur and take down the surface temp, but Mr. Whitey spends little time on the surface. Under water temps say way more stable.

 

When there are aeals Thera are sharks- that aren't very hungry