It was a phone conversation I will never forget.
“Hey Chester man, I need you to help me out,” said Capt. Ryan Warhola.
“Dude, aren’t you on an offshore charter today?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m calling on my satellite phone. I need to know what the difference is between a mako’s teeth and a great white’s teeth,” he said.
“The sharks look roughly similar but a mako has jagged teeth and a great white has basically perfect triangles. Plus, big whites have a whole lot more girth.”
“Oh my…”
There was silence for a moment and then a statement I never expected to hear.
“Chester, that means I’m looking at a great white shark. We pulled up to the rigs and it’s swimming around the boat,” Warhola said.
He was and is a very knowledgable angler and I believed him. His encounter set me on the path of an in-depth investigation on great whites in the Gulf that became a Texas Outdoor Writer’s Association award-winning article for Tide magazine.
The sighting was back in 2005 and then there was controversy over the topic. Some people, even despite, old historical records denied there ever being great whites in the Gulf.
Ten years later, Ocearch’s satellite-tagged sharks proved they were here and most recently, “LeeBeth,” a 14.1 foot, 2,600-pound female fitted with a satellite tag by Capt. Chip Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing shocked shark lovers.
Tagged Dec. 8, 2023 in South Carolina, she showed in the surf at South Padre Feb. 26 and about 100 miles or so out of Sabine Pass on the Texas/Louisiana border March 7.
And that’s exactly where Warhola saw his great white.
I got a text from him after the story broke here at Higher Calling Wildlife®.
“And to think no one believed us back in the early 2000s.”
Warhola recounted his encounter while fishing at rig WC 268 58 miles from the Sabine Jetties. The rig has since been removed like many in the area but his memory remains vivid.
“I remember pulling up and all the rig workers were leaning over looking at the water. One yelled that there was a giant shark and about five minutes later it began swimming around the boat,” he said.
Warhola said the shark’s features were striking.
“i remember black eyes about as big around as a coke can. It had huge girth and those triangle-shaped teeth.”
Now we know not only from “LeeBeth” that is wearing a Atlantic Great White Conservancy tag, but also “Acadia”, an Ocearch-tagged great white that showed up 125 miles off the coast of Galveston in 2021, they do hang out in this part of the Gulf of Mexico
That is why these tagging programs are so important.
And although these recently confirmed Texas visits and scientific surveys of the past are insightful, I was the kid who saw Jaws and wanted to get in the water.
It’s not just about knowledge with whites. There is an awe factor.
I remember standing with my Dad staring at a full moon glimmering over the surf at the end of the 61st Street Pier in Galveston at age 12. I pondered whether there were any great whites in the Gulf and even in Texas waters.
“Maybe so,” Dad said.
Getting to break the story of Acadia in 2021 and LeeBeth’s arrival near my home waters has been a career highlight. It lets the little boy that’s still very much alive in me know that my wildest dreams can still come true.
And gives the professional wildlife journalist writing this blog inspiration to dig deeper.
There are things beneath the surface we don’t totally understand just yet.
And some of them grow to 3,000 plus pounds, sport a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and show up where the darn well please.
That might be at a rig off Sabine Pass or the surf at South Padre Island, TX.
If LeeBeth has shown us anything, it’s that when it comes to great white sharks, her kind is full of surprises.
Chester Moore
Acadiana Boat, Sport & RV Show
Mark your calendars for the Acadiana Boat, Sport & RV Show. Connect with everything from new boats to fish equipment and guided fishing trips. Check it out at Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino March 22-24.
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