RAW VIDEO: Great White Shark Bites Fishing Line off Cape Cod
By Marc Fortier ••
The encounter was just one of three great white shark sightings off Cape Cod on Thursday.
A fishing boat had an exciting - and slightly scary - encounter with a great white shark off Cape Cod on Thursday.
Triton Sportfishing posted a video to its Facebook page of a great white attacking a striped bass on a fishing line during a private fishing excursion.
The incident happened Thursday morning in Cape Cod Bay, said Capt. Steve Peters of Triton Sportfishing, which operates two boats - Triton and Unchained - out of Rock Harbor in Orleans. He said it was the third time this summer he's seen a great white.
"We were bringing fish into the boat," Peters said. "All of a sudden it was airborne, down on top of the fish. It had it in his mouth and started to run off with it, then came back at it again."
He said he had his first mate grab the rod just in case and grabbed his phone to shoot video of the shark, which he estimated at about 12 feet long.
"It was kind of an action packed event. It came up and grabbed the fish again and was swimming toward the boat and let go of it," Peters said. "He just kept coming up. They don't have any fear of anything.
"It was really neat that it happened so close you could actually see it. Usually it's spur of the moment."
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The encounter was just one of three great white shark sightings off Cape Cod on Thursday. The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy's research team also spotted sharks off Provincetown and Orleans.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Sandy was detected off Chatham.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Here's a photo of Turbo, a great white shark detected off Wellfleet last weekend.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
Omar was also detected off Chatham recently.
FILE PHOTO - Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch
A person on board a whale watching boat on June 9 captured this image of a shark killing a seal off Provincetown.
CSNPhilly.com
This is one of three white sharks spotted by pilot Wayne Davis on Friday's research trip.
Shutterstock/Getty Images
Jack is another return visitor to the Cape, and was most recently spotted on June 21.
Joe Stiglich
James has been spotted in previous years and was seen again on June 26 off Cape Cod.
Division of Marine Fisheries
Sharktivity
This great white shark was spotted by the Massachusetts shark research team on June 26, 2018.
NBC10
This white shark, James, was spotted on June 26 by a Massachusetts shark research team.
Warner Bros Music
This 10 to 12 foot great white shark was spotted by an intern aboard a Boston Harbor Cruises trip returning from a whale watch east of Cape Ann.
NBC Bay Area
This great white shark was tagged off Cape Cod on July 9.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
This white shark was tagged off Nauset Beach on July 13.
Sharktivity
This six-to-eight-foot white shark was spotted off Scorton Ledge in Sandwich on July 15.
Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
This great white shark was tagged off Provincetown on July 20.
Sharktivity
This white shark was spotted on July 28, killing a seal.
AP
This shark was caught in a fishing net off Minot Beach on July 28.
The Associated Press
This white shark was unintentionally caught in a gillnet and brought to Scituate on July 28.
NBC Bay Area/Rick Boone
This white shark was spotted north of Nauset Beach on July 30.
NBC 4
This 10-to-12 foot shark was spotted on July 30.
AFP/Getty Images
This white shark was spotted off of the edge of Billingsgate Shoal on July 31.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images
This white shark was spotted swimming by surfers off Lecount Hollow Beach on August 2.
Atlantic White Shark Conservancy
This great white shark breached the waters off Cape Cod on August 6.
Typically, mid-June is when most great white sharks arrive in the New England area. Last year was a particularly active year for great whites off Cape Cod, with dozens of sightings and several beach closures due to sharks being spotted swimming close to shore.
