Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico?

[Wayward Son]

Bulls mostly migrate south once the water gets cold enough. This winter I know of quite a few sightings by a friend of mine, unusual. Then they come back in the spring as the water warms. I usually see them through november then either not at all or seldom until spring.

 

[Wayward Son]

Looking at the pics posted it's really hard to say. Just can't see enough of the shark to tell. based on the shape of the dorsal fin I do not think it's a GW, but there is a bit of that wavey white line on the body that looks like a GW pattern.

It's big, whatever it is.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I think they are correct with the Basking Shark guess.

 

[Wayward Son]

I've never seen either a basking or whale shark, though both are in the gulf. Perhaps I'll get lucky one day...

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Whale Sharks are spotted in the Gulf pretty much every year.

 

[tom wicker]

I've never seen either a basking or whale shark, though both are in the gulf. Perhaps I'll get lucky one day...

I’m no expert not even close, I just got my first glimpse of the photo in question. And i'm confused . When I glanced at the photo the first thing that came to my mind was that I was looking at two separate Dorsal fins coming from different directions. It may be were I have had a long hard day but it appears to me if you look closely I will call it the flat of the fins appears to be opposite to each other. So much for streamline.

I’m waiting in suspense to see what a professional has to say

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

If you keep up on the thread, there is a shot of a basking shark with two fins breaking the water that looks nearly identical to the picture in question.

 

[Wayward Son]

Matt, you just need to dive with me to see sharks. Ran into a 7 ft bull on Stage 1 saturday. I went alpha on his azz & ran him off, as I was hunting & hadn't shot anything yet. Easier to establish dominance & run him off before fish are on the stringer. Ended up with a large shovelnose lobster & a big trigger fish. Saw some decent grouper but never could get a shot at them. Some AJ, some may have been legal but I wasn't sure so never shot.

Lots of small jellies in the water.

 

[tom wicker]

Matt, you just need to dive with me to see sharks. Ran into a 7 ft bull on Stage 1 saturday. I went alpha on his azz & ran him off, as I was hunting & hadn't shot anything yet. Easier to establish dominance & run him off before fish are on the stringer. Ended up with a large shovelnose lobster & a big trigger fish. Saw some decent grouper but never could get a shot at them. Some AJ, some may have been legal but I wasn't sure so never shot.

Lots of small jellies in the water.

Have you ever encountered one that would zip by so fast you had a hard time facing him head on? I had one that could turn on a dime it seemed and here it would come again. I'm starting to see some jellies also (small ones)

Mat let the water clear where viz is better and you can holed the stringer and we will go looking for one. It seems so far this summer it is shark Paradise everyone is spotting them here on the upper coast

 

[Wayward Son]

Nope, mine have all been slower. Good thing, easier to deal with.

There are some wrecks out of Destin that have resident populations of sharks, 20 or per site. You might try taking a charter to hit those if you really want to see some.