The coastal waters are known to consistently have various species of sharks. Great white sharks are rarely seen in local waters and even more rarely caught. This week though Blaine Kenny and Dylan Weir of Coastal Worldwide landed one of the most feared predatory fish.

Blaine Kenny, a partner of Coastal Worldwide, helped a group to land an estimated 1,000 pound, great white shark during a charter beach fishing trip. Dylan Weir said “in the first 12 hours or so of the trip, we hooked the first shark, which just happened to be a 12-13 foot great white shark.”

Kenny told our reporter that during this time of the year the large migrating sharks will travel down the eastern seaboard and winter in the warmer gulf waters. This marks the fourth great white shark in four years that Coastal Worldwide has caught on Alabama and Florida beaches. In March of 2023, they caught their first great white of the Orange Beach coast.

Blaine Kenny added “this is testimony to health our Gulf waters. These amazing creatures that travel thousands of miles all choose our home to move through, it’s obviously flourishing enough for them.”

Just last week a local journalist, Erica Thomas, reported on another great white being tracked off the coast of Gulf Shores. Thomas reported that OCEARCH recently pinged a tracked great white shark in the Gulf of America, just off the coast of Gulf Shores.

Ernst, a 12-foot female white shark, was tagged off the coast of Nova Scotia on Oct. 4, 2025. In less than four months, Ernst made her way down the East Coast, around the state of Florida, and up to Gulf Shores, where she surfaced on January 11.

OCEARCH said Ernst was tagged during field research with the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station. Scientists are trying to better understand the movement, health and behavior of sharks in Atlantic Canada.

Coastal Worldwide offers guided fishing adventures along the coast. They did clarify that Alabama does not allow shark fishing from public beaches but they offer the service off the shores of Florida.

Though sharks were portrayed as a great threat in the movie "Jaws", sharks average causing only about 5 to 10 human deaths globally per year (11 reported in 2025).  A remarkably low number compared to their fearsome reputation. You are statistically much more likely to die from common hazards such as lightning strikes (49 deaths/year in the U.S.), falling out of bed (450 deaths/year), or even falling coconuts (estimated 150 deaths/year).