Fishermen who caught great white shark off Alabama beach do it again off Florida coast

Fishermen who caught great white shark off Alabama beach do it again off Florida coast

Two professional fishermen who last March caught the first-ever great white shark off an Alabama beach have caught another, this time an estimated 12-foot, 1200-pound fish fishing on Navarre Beach in the Florida Panhandle.

Blaine Kenny and Dylan Wier of Coastal Worldwide set up shop, so to speak, on Navarre Beach last Sunday. They were out to catch big fish, specifically sharks.

To that end, Wier’s line had a massive swordfish head as bait, while Kenny’s line had the head of an 80-pound yellowfin tuna.

In the video posted to their YouTube channel, the fishermen said they were setting their lines for an 18-hour period.

By 8 a.m. something — something big — was on Kenny’s line. Wier tried to find the fish with a drone they use for filming, but nothing appeared.

But a few minutes into the fight, the fish jumped and Kenny could see it was a shark, raising the level of excitement in both men’s voices.

Kenny continued to fight to bring the fish in near shore. About 45 minutes into the battle, Kenny says he’s starting to be able to bring in some “decent line.”

“It’s a big, big winter time shark,” Wier says. “There’s only a few things it could be: Mako, giant tiger, white shark or the biggest dusky we’ve ever seen. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to stay locked in.”

Finally, the drone locates the shark and Wier can see it’s a white shark.

“And it’s not any white shark, that’s a monster,” he exclaims.

As interested beachgoers look on, Kenny thinks he’s lost the shark, looking dejected as he stares down at the stand. But several minutes later, he realizes the shark is still on the line — and getting close to shore.

“That was terrifying,” Kenny said of thinking the shark was gone. “I was going to be heart broken.”

Finally, with the shark now on the sand in shallow water, the two men head out towards apex predator.

“This has been the day Blaine has been dreaming about since he dropped his first bait,” Wier said. “This thing’s massive, dude.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s a great white, baby,” Kenny replied.

The shark had a deep gash directly behind its dorsal fin, which Wier speculated was likely from a boat strike. The hook was removed and the two men maneuvered the shark so it was pointed back out to deep water.

Then Kenny gently pushed his prized catch back out into the Gulf.

“There you go, big momma,” Wier said.

“Words cannot truly describe what this fish means right here,” Kenny said.

Last March, the two men led a group of family and friends on a land-based shark fishing trip and reeled in a juvenile great white off Orange Beach, believed to be the first ever caught off an Alabama beach.