14-foot great white shark spotted off Port Canaveral

PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Brevard County fishing and night shark fishing company got quite the surprise Monday while bottom fishing.

Orlando Princess and Canaveral Princess Deep Sea Fishing spotted a 14-foot great white shark about 24 miles east of Port Canaveral.

Captain Craig Shaffer told Eyewitness News that 21 passengers and four crew members were on an expedition when they saw the shark.

The company posted on its Facebook page that they were bottom fishing about 100 feet down when they caught the shark. The great white got to the surface of the ocean, swam along the side of the boat, broke off the hook and swam away.

Shaffer told Eyewitness News since they started the business in 1989, they've never caught a great white shark.

It's unclear if the shark had a tracking device that is monitored by Ocearch.

Katharine, a great white shark, is known to frequent Central Florida.

Cox Media Group