A 14 foot, 2.600 pound great white shark has showed up south of New Orleans, La. just a few miles away from the South Pass area.
“LeeBeth”, was fitted with an Atlantic White Shark Conservancy satellite tag by Capt. Chip Michalove off the coast of South Carolina Dec. 8, 2023.
Since then this massive shark has taken an epic trip from the Atlantic to near the Texas/Mexico border at South Padre Island to the Texas/Louisiana border south of Sabine Pass and now in the Mississippi River Delta region.
*Scroll down to read about exclusive reports from the Chandeleur Islands!
Leebeth pinged, which means she breached the surface where a satellite could pick up the signal 8:15 a.m. Friday March 15.
She is not the only great white that has visited the area this year.
“Crystal” and “Keji”, both great whites tagged by research group Ocearch showed up in the same general area in January.
The idea of great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico might seem strange but it is part of their native range.
Harvest regulation changes in the 1990s have allowed more of these sharks to reach maturity and venture from the Atlantic where researchers believe they are born and enter the Gulf.
NOAA has some extremely interesting older data on great whites in the Gulf of Mexico. Their earliest recorded white shark I could find was off the coast of Sarasota, Fla. on a set line in the winter of 1937. Another specimen was caught in the same area in 1943.
In February 1965, a female was captured in a net intended for bottlenose dolphins at Mullet Key near St. Petersburg. In addition, National Marine Fisheries Service officials reported 35 great whites as bycatch in the Japanese longline fishery in the Gulf from 1979 through 1982.
In the 1963 book Shadows In the Sea; Sharks, Skates & Rays, the presence of great whites in Texas waters as far back as the 1950s is mentioned.
A great white shark seven feet long was caught in 15 fathoms, 12 miles off of Port Aransas, TX on Feb. 9, 1950. Seven days later, a second great white 11 feet, 4-inches long was caught in the same area. And 10 days later, a third, this one 12 feet, 2 inches long, was caught there. Yet, there has never been a previously reported catches in Texas waters.
Interestingly, the story we did on the whites shark at Sabine Pass inspired two fishermen to report seeing great whites in the Chandeleur Islands which are very close to where LeeBeth and the other great whites pinged.
“I was wade fishing the Chandeleur Islands in 2006 in the aftermarth of Hurricane Katrina. The storm had washed away a bunch of mangrove in the surf but left little islands big enough to climb up on and stand in the surf which left about four to six feet of water beneath these little clumps.”
“So I’m standing on one and saw what I believed to be a great white the size of a Cadillac swim right in front of my little island. When I told the story to the guys I was with nobody believed me and convinced me I saw a big tiger shark. I’m pretty sure after these revelations I was right.”
Another angler reported seeing a white in the Chandeleur Islandes the same year.
“I saw one while wade fishing the Chandeleur Islands about a year after Katrina. It was right after I got back in the boat and it swam right by the boat about 10 feet off our starboard beam in about eight feet of water. It was shocking to say the least.”
These reports at this point while very credible are considered only anecdotal from a research perspective.
However, if white shark tagging research has shown us anything, it is angler stories of great whites from the past seem far more likely to be accurate now since we know without question, these magnificent sharks inhabit the Gulf.
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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