Watch: Pier Fisherman Snags Great White Shark

A fisherman in San Clemente bit off more than he could chew Monday when he hooked a great white shark while fishing from the pier.

As a small crowd gathered to watch, a six-foot great white shark thrashed on the end of a fishing line. As time went on, the juvenile shark struggled ever more sluggishly to break free.

Penny Novak, who was walking along the pier with her family, shared video of the catch with NBC LA.

“When we looked over the edge, there it was. Its head was fully out of the water, its mouth was open. It was just like something out of a movie,” Novak told NBC. “Then finally, it went under the water for a little bit. We all thought maybe it died, and then all of the sudden it came back up and we heard like a big, loud crunch, and then it like moved around a little bit and broke free and then took off.”

It’s unusual for juvenile great whites to spend the winter in Southern California, but sightings have become almost common thanks to unseasonably warm waters off the California coast attributable to El Nino.

In November, a San Clemente teen diver reportedly fended off an aggressive great white that repeatedly charged him. For most of the year, more than a dozen juvenile sharks lingered near Seal Beach, and great white encounters prompted beach closures in Newport Beach and San Clemente.

The unusually warm waters off the Pacific coast have attracted the great white sharks and kept them here during the winter when the juveniles typically head to the warmer waters off Mexico, according to Professor Chris Lowe, director of the Cal State Long Beach shark lab told Patch.

For the full NBC report, click here.

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